Defending champions, Real Madrid, have been sent packing from this year’s UEFA Champions League.
They were humiliated 4-1 by Dutch club Ajax in the second leg of their Round of 16 tie at Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday night.
Ajax headed to the Bernabeu still dreaming of what could have been in the first leg in Amsterdam. Erik ten Hag’s side dominated but couldn’t take their chances and fell to a 2-1 defeat.
In the second leg, just after seven minutes, Ajax nicked the ball in the Real Madrid half and Dusan Tadic cut back for Hakim Ziyech to find the bottom corner.
The goal gave Ajax confidence and ten minutes later it was 2-0. Tadic played in David Neres to flick the ball into the net.
Neres then missed a great chance to add a third as Ajax silenced the home crowd. Hakim Ziyech also saw a shot kept out by Thibaut Courtois.
Real Madrid who lost Lucas Vasquez and Vinicius JR through injury looked to get a goal back before the break, but the post denied Gareth Bale while Daley Blind made an excellent block to keep out a Marco Asensio strike.
Real Madrid started the second half strongly, but Ajax took control again and Tadic found the top corner with an excellent strike made it 3-0.
Real Madrid needed three goals to progress and with twenty minutes left, Asensio pulled one back with a low strike into the bottom corner.
The home crowd were expecting a comeback but Lasse Schone ended any chance of that with a stunning free-kick from a difficult angle which flew over Courtois to make it 4-1.
It was indeed a miserable night for Los Blancos as they set all kinds of miserable records in Tuesday’s second leg tie.
The loss and crashing out from the Champions League have all but confirmed that there is no silverware for the Spanish giants this season.
Successive defeats to Barcelona in the Copa del Rey and league respectively over the last few days have knocked Real Madrid out of contention for domestic honours and now their poor run has been extended to Europe.
Los Blancos had won the last three editions of the Champions League, and have been victorious in their last nine two-legged knockout ties in the competition. But all those beatified statistics were torn in to shreds on Tuesday.
Already, there are reports that Real Madrid chiefs will consider turning to club legend Raul as a replacement for struggling manager Santiago Solari.
Los Blancos president Florentino Perez is believed to be ready to terminate the contract signed by Solari just four months ago following a poor run of results.
In the other game also played on Tuesday, English club Tottenham Hotspur cemented their place in the quarter finals of the Champions League as they beat their German opponents, Borussia Dortmund, again.
While Spurs had won the first leg 3-0 at Wembley, at the Signal Iduna Park they won 1-0 to progess on a 4-0 aggregate.
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