Ajax end Madrid’s champions reign
Kings of Europe no more. Real Madrid’s Champions League reign is over.
More than 1000 days since winning the first of three consecutive European titles, Real Madrid’s unprecedented era of dominance ended with a whimper when the Spanish giants were stunned 4-1 by Ajax at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium yesterday.
The humiliating loss meant Madrid were eliminated 5-3 on aggregate in the round of 16, leaving the club looking at a trophyless season in their first campaign since mega-star Cristiano Ronaldo left for Juventus.
In the end, the club renowned for assembling its team with expensive ‘‘Galactico’’ signings was undone by a club centred around a core of homegrown young talents.
Ajax, who are enjoying a resurgence thanks to young stars Frenkie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt, needed less than 20 minutes to reverse a 2-1 deficit from the first leg, with Hakim Ziyech scoring in the seventh minute and David Neres in the 18th.
Dusan Tadic, who set up both first-half goals, added to the lead in the 62nd, and Lasse Schone sealed the Dutch team’s triumph with a freekick from a tight angle in the 72nd. Marco Asensio had pulled the hosts closer a couple of minutes earlier.
In yesterday’s other game, Tottenham won 1-0 at Borussia Dortmund to go through 4-0 on aggregate, reaching the quarterfinals for the first time since 2011.
Ajax were playing in the last
16 for the first time since 2006 and will be making their first quarterfinal appearance since
2003.
For Madrid, it was the fourth straight home loss in all competitions, something that hadn’t happened since 2004, and capped one of the worst weeks in the club’s recent history.
The team was coming off two demoralising home losses to archrival Barcelona – 1-0 in the Spanish league and 3-0 in the semifinals of the Copa del Rey.
Out of the Copa del Rey and 12 points behind Barcelona in the Spanish league, the Champions League was Real Madrid’s only realistic chance of winning anything this season.
Madrid hadn’t lost a Champions League knockout tie since the 2015 semifinal against Juventus. They had reached the semifinals in eight straight seasons and hadn’t failed to make it past the last 16 since 2010.
In the group stage this season, they had lost 3-0 to CSKA Moscow at the Bernabeu for what had been their worst European loss.
Madrid were without suspended captain Sergio Ramos, who was sanctioned by Uefa for deliberately earning a late booking late in the first leg, and the defence struggled. The attack also faltered again, with the forwards missing chance after chance.