Real Madrid crash out of the Champions League as they lose to Ajax 4-1
By Hasan Karim
In perhaps one of the displays in the history of the club – Real Madrid have been dumped out of the Champions League. Losing 4-1 (5-3) to Ajax at the Bernabeu in a night of disgrace. Quite where the team goes from here is anyones guess.
For the very first time since 2009/10, Real Madrid will not proceed past the Round of 16. In what was seen as a favourable draw, Real were outclassed across both legs and thoroughly deserved to lose this tie. Despite a stronger start to this game, it barely lasted ten minutes before Ajax found a goal in the 7th minute and it was completely downhill from there.
Despite going down a goal – Madrid did not look like a side with a goal in them. Firing in speculative efforts and chances from unrealistic angles. Before the twenty minute mark, Ajax had bagged another after a sublime bit of skill from Tadic set up Neres to send Ajax ahead on aggregate. For the rest of the half, Real offered little to no threat and had their misery further compounded as Vasquez and Vinicius exited through injury.
Coming out for the second half, Madrid were stringing together some decent passes and creating some good moves, however, they posed little threat. Poor decision making from the forwards was a huge problem throughout as they struggled to create any danger. Despite some controversy with VAR, Ajax added a third in the 62nd minute as Tadic capped off a great display.
Marco Asensio snatched a goal in the 70th minute to give the team a glimmer of hope, although, it was short lived as Schone scored a free-kick goal after Courtois positioned himself poorly. From then on, it was just a formality. Madrid missed more chances and ended the game essentially with 9 men as Bale got injured and Nacho was sent off for a poor challenge.
All in all, this was a pathetic display. Despite having 20 attempts on goal, we barely threatened. Defensively shocking throughout and poor displays from key individuals just ensued the misery rained in on the Bernabeu. The collective poor display, poor management and Ramos’ foolish suspension has made this night one Madrid fans will want to forget.
Real Madrid have essentially exited three competitions in 7 days and it is hard to see where they go from here. A serious overhaul in the summer is looking necessary by this point. Questions surrounding Solari will also be raised as it seems he is all but certain to see the chopping block after this display.