After getting booked in the first leg on purpose with Real Madrid leading 2-1, predicting that his side would make the quarterfinals of the Champions League, Sergio Ramos was suspended for Tuesday’s loss to Ajax. UEFA have since handed him an additional game ban — so he would not have been available for a hypothetical quarterfinal anyway — because he admitted after the game he picked up the yellow card deliberately.
Despite missing the game, all eyes were on him at the Bernabeu. Especially when, after 20 minutes, Ajax were leading 2-0, a result which was good enough to knock the current European champions out. They would go on to win 4-1 on the night, 5-3 on aggregate.
According to MARCA, Ramos was watching the game from his personalised box at the Bernabeu. Ramos was with friends before the game before heading up to watch the match. But that is not what stands out. According to the cited media, during the game he was being filmed as part of a documentary he is making with Amazon. A production which is expected to be available this coming summer.
Real Madrid fans called for president Florentino Perez to resign as they watched their team get knocked out of the Champions League on Tuesday. The Madrid supporters have had enough and let it be known in no uncertain terms after the 4-1 loss to Ajax at the Santiago Bernabeu which eliminated them from Europe.
“Florentino, dimisión [resign],” was the chant among those still inside the ground once the game had finished. Madrid’s season has fallen apart in the last week. Barcelona knocked them out of the Copa del Rey and all but pushed them out of the title race, oo. They have now exited Europe.
Florentino Perez’s failure to adequately replace Cristiano Ronaldo has seen him lose favour among fans, while his managerial appointments since Zinedine Zidane left have not worked, either. Julen Lopetegui was sacked after the 5-1 loss at Barcelona in October and his replacement Santi Solari has now quite worked out. And Dani Carvajal says Real Madrid have had a “shit” season after they were knocked out of the Champions League by Ajax on Tuesday.
Ajax turned around a 2-1 first leg deficit by winning 4-1 at the Bernabeu as Los Blancos were beaten at home for the fourth consecutive game. Madrid have now been knocked out of the Copa del Rey, the La Liga title race and now Europe in the space of seven days to leave their season over in March. “We have had a shit season,” Carvajal admitted in an interview with Movistar. “It’s not up to the players to analyse this. What we have to do is not hide and keep working.”
With tears almost in his eyes, the Madrid player added: “I feel uneasy… I don’t know how to explain it. “We came into the game with the intention of playing really well and getting through, but it’s not easy to play after two losses in a row [to Barcelona]. In one week we’ve been knocked out of everything.” Carvajal tried to avoid making excuses: “[Ajax] were better and deserved to go through. Two errors saw us go 2-0 down, we missed a chance and the third goal kills us.”