Real Madrid 1 - 4 Ajax : 3 Talking points

Real Madrid hosted Ajax for the second leg of their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 fixture on 5th March 2019. Los Blancos entered the game with a slight advantage after recording a narrow 2-1 victory over the Eredivisie side during the first leg of the encounter - courtesy of goals from Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio. It was a good result for the Spanish side with two crucial away goals.

Sergio Ramos admitted after the first leg that he deliberately earned a yellow card to get himself suspended for the second leg. His thoughts were that the second goal scored by Asensio in Amsterdam was enough for them to progress. How wrong is he now?

Ajax stunned the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium with a cruising 4-1 win over the current champions and dumped them out of the tournament. In the absence of Ramos, the defense put in a poor performance as Ajax attackers found a lot of space on numerous occasions.

Here are 3 talking points extracted from the game:

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#1. Madrid’s European dominance hit a snag

The current champions were knocked out in a shocking manner

The Spanish team started the tournament as one of the favorites, following their last 3 consecutive triumphs. Madrid has been able to become a semi-finalist in the last eight seasons, showing the world how good they are at the bigger stage. The club has won the tournament the most number of times, 13 in total.

After the departure of their ex-manager Zinedine Zidane and their talisman Cristiano Ronaldo, things have changed a lot at Santiago Bernabeu. The team has struggled in all competitions this season and the Champions league represented their only hope of winning silverware.

With the humiliating defeat in front of home crowd, their last hope has been dashed and after three years, the world will have a new champion at Atletico Madrid’s Wanda Metropolitano stadium.

#2. Scintillating Tadic

The Serbian playmaker produced a masterclass against Madrid

Dusan Tadic moved to Ajax last summer from Southampton and made a mark for himself in this game. The Serbian attacker started the match in a false-nine role and did well to demolish Real Madrid's defense. His through balls were inch-perfect; he set up the first and second goals for his team. In the second, he showed up great skill with a 360 degree turn around Casemiro, crossing the killer pass to striker Neres to finish.

He later got his name on the scoresheet with a beautiful strike into the top corner to take the game out of Los Blancos' reach. It was a night to remember for him as he helped in knocking out one of the best European clubs and stunned many by his great overall performance.

From playing for Southampton in the battle against relegation to tearing Real Madrid apart at their home soil, a lot has changed for the Serbian superstar.

#3. Bale failed to deliver again

Bale missed a couple of good chances

After the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale was supposed to take the responsibility to lead the attack. As the season progressed, Madrid failed to find the net on a number of occasions as the forwards couldn't step up in front of goal.

Following series of unconvincing performances, Bale started the game on the bench but due to an injury to Lucas Vazquez, he got the entry in the 29th minute.

The winger had earlier scored on the big stages like in the finals against Atletico Madrid and Liverpool, but he couldn't do the same this time. In the first half, The Welshman hit the post from a close angle and missed a big chance towards the end of the second, but was already quite late by then.

The opportunity couldn't have been the perfect time to shut up his critics but it was meant to be. With growing tension at the club and his fitness issues over the years, we might be seeing him at Madrid for the last year.