The sad truth is that the Valverde years 2017-2020 (2.5 years) was his last chance to win CL,
he was still good, despite not at his best
Problem is the coward-ish and ineffective tactics Ernie used, and his positioning as false RW
His only chance to win CL those years would have been IF the team was playing sth close to a 4-2-3-1 with him occupying the CAM role (freedom of movement of course), 2 wingers always out wide and 1 striker to stretch the pitch both vertically and horizontally which was necessary for him to find space to move, and then of course 2 DMs that could run a lot (hence not Busi, or else you need Kante next to him to compensate)
None of that happened, hence the outcome we all witnessed