After a week to forget, with two defeats to Barcelona at home, Real Madrid supporters suffered another huge disappointment at home. The club merengue was thrashed by a surprising Ajax in the Santiago Bernabeu by 4-1 on Tuesday and ended up eliminated in the last 16 of the Champions League – practically ending the 2018/19 season for Real Madrid, still in March. Tadic, David Neres, Ziyech, and Schöne scored for the Dutch side as Marco Asensio scored for the hosts.
The defeat for Ajax not only ends the European quarter-fold dream but also virtually puts an end to the Real Madrid season. In one week, with three defeats at home, the merengue team fell to Barca in the King’s Cup, saw the rival open 12 points in the Spanish League and was eliminated in the Champions League. The climate is an end of the party for the merengues, with Solari on the verge of being sacked.
The merengue elimination also brought other news beyond bad for the Real Madrid fans. Wonderboy and loved by Madrid fans since the beginning of 2019, the young Brazilian, Vinicius Junior, suffered an injury to his right ankle and left the field in the first half, crying a lot.
Ajax achieved a historic result with an intense performance, starting for the attack – although also in danger at the beginning of the game. But what made the difference for the Dutch was the performance of the Serbian Tadic. The team’s number 10 commanded the great performance of his team, giving key passes and appearing in the area to finalize. As a statistic of the Opta, he is the player who most participated in goals in this Champions League, having scored six times and given three assists.
Ajax’s victory at the Santiago Bernabéu is part of Real Madrid’s history, as it is the second time the Spanish club have lost three home-scoring goals in a European competition game (the first was for CSKA in the group stages, by 3-0). This is also the first time in 15 years that Real have lost four straight games at the Santiago Bernabeu.
People had better keep an eye on Tadic. He could be the key player that teams such as Liverpool are missing, mainly since the Coutinho departure to Barcelona. Ajax will now wait until March 13th to know their opponents in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.