WATCH: Why the hell are the RTÉ panel obsessed with ending Lionel Messi’s career?

"People make the comparison with Ronaldo, there is no comparison."

So says Eamon Dunphy of Lionel Messi back in 2015. There is one comparison that can easily be made between the two greatest footballers of their generation - they are both repeatedly written off by the RTÉ panel. Thanks for that, Eamon. In that same diatribe Cristiano Ronaldo was compared unfavourably to Messi, who was all things to all men in the eyes of the RTÉ panel. An opinion that was rightly held up until 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nhyrHdzMFQ However, things have turned in the last 18 months. As you can see below, Messi was poor last season as Barcelona won back-to-back La Liga titles, the Argentine scoring just 26 goals and assisting another 16 as the Catalan club pipped great rivals Real Madrid to the title by a single point. Dunphy watched a lot of Spanish football, but it is the Champions League RTÉ have rights to, so Barca's 3-2 quarter-final loss to Atletico Madrid could only be explained by the inexorable decline of their influential talisman. https://twitter.com/RTEsport/status/720369328525213696 We're surprised he had the audacity to return this season, to be honest, but return he did. Just the 10 goals in six Champions League matches before Tuesday's catastrophic 4-0 defeat to Paris St Germain, plus 17 league goals in 17 league starts. In an out of sorts Barca team, he is really stinking it up. Thomas Muller, one of the most in-form strikers of the past five years, has been benched by Bayern after a terrible run of form. Sergio Aguero was struggling to break into Manchester City team until Gabriel Jesus' injury and even that Portuguese cod has endured patches of indifferent form in a spectacular career. Even the best have dips, but in a Messi 'dip' he is almost averaging a goal-per-game. This did not stop the RTÉ panel of Didi Hamann, Richie Sadlier and Dunphy discussing the waining of one of the greatest of all time on Wednesday night. Needless to say Dunphy was the most definite in his views and, needless to say, the viewers did notice. https://twitter.com/butstovski/status/831994720280838145 https://twitter.com/ryan_sargesson/status/831994328562139136 https://twitter.com/paulieCboy/status/831996270738862080 https://twitter.com/MF_Thatherton/status/831995114025320448 https://twitter.com/YeSecondPost/status/831994649539727365 https://twitter.com/splitboybenny/status/831994971515400192