Champions, Real Madrid!!!
This is a club the elevates itself on evenings like this-vs Ajax.
Amid a mood of unfamiliar insecurity with domestic discontent swirling all round, Real Madrid matched into what they must have hoped for will be another of their transformational European nights.
Against Ajax, the three time European Champions lacked a glimmer of quality.
Real Madrid’s reign
Two years, nine months and five days since they beat fellow Spaniards Atletico Madrid in the 2016 final in Milan, they have finally been eliminated from Europe’s premier club competition after three titles in a row.
For the first time since May 2015 – a run stretching 46 months – Real Madrid are out of the Champions League.
They have a remarkable record since the start of the 2015-16 season, in which they claimed the first of their three successive titles.
| Real Madrid in Champions League since start of 2015-16 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals for | Goals against |
| 47 | 32 | 8 | 7 | 112 | 50 |
Real’s CL results since start of 2015-16: WWDWWWWWLWDWDWDWDWDWWWWWLWWWDLWWWWWLWDWWLWWWLWL
Real had reached at least the semi-finals in every season since they were knocked out in the last 16 by French side Lyon back in 2010, in Cristiano Ronaldo’s first season with the club.
So what has gone wrong? Too much to sum up in one paragraph, but obviously losing the goals of Ronaldo has been a major problem.
Real Madrid Champions League top scorers
Gareth Bale did not start, which is frustrating him big time, but they do not see him as one of them. When he has been given the responsibility he hasn’t shone but he won’t shine if he’s only given 15 or 20 minutes.
Captain Sergio Ramos – who missed the game through suspension having been booked deliberately in the first leg