Madrid [Spain]: Real Madrid’s long continental reign can be considered quite finished as it suffered another shock defeat by Ajax. Ajax stunned Real Madrid 4-1(5-3 aggregate), ending the club’s reign of over 1000 days as kings of the continent of Europe. The two El Clasico defeats by Barcelona and this elimination by Ajax saw Madrid’s entire season crumble like a pack of cards and the season went from bad to worse within a span of seven days.
The club now has nothing to play for, as they are already out of the Copa Del Ray, 12 points behind leaders Barcelona in La Liga and eliminated from the Champions League in the last 16 for the very first time since 2006. Madrid have won the Champions League for three seasons but they were dominated by Ajax.
The club was sloppy from the beginning, they had a cushion of a 2-1 away triumph in Amsterdam which captain Sergio Ramos deemed big enough to get himself booked for deliberately so as to be suspended for this match. Ramos was missed considerably as Ajax played with fancy footwork and consistent movement in attack.
Hakim Ziyech, David Neres, Dusan Tadic, all scored for Ajax and they had gained a 3-0 lead in the 62nd minute of the match. Marco Asensio pulled one back for Madrid in the 70th minute but Lasse Schone scored another goal for Ajax in the 73rd minute denying the chance for Madrid to come back. Lasse Schone astonishing free-kick ensured that Madrid’s era of European dominance came to an end.