BARCELONA, Spain — It is six years since a team without Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo won the Champions League and, if you conducted a straw poll of the Manchester United team torn apart by Barcelona’s magician in the Nou Camp during a 3-0 quarterfinal second-leg defeat Tuesday night, few responses would suggest the sequence will end this season.

Ronaldo, courtesy of Ajax’s stunning victory against Juventus, will not be in Madrid for the final June 1,