Real Madrid Whipped By Counter-Attacking Ajax [Highlights]
Real Madrid were stunned by stunning Ajax – you gotta love the pun – at the Santiago Bernabeu in exhilarating fashion to put a disrupt end to a Madrid dominated era.
Real Madrid who boast the World Best Player (Modric), Best LB (Marcelo) and centre-back (Ramos) in their ranks simply had no answer to a rampant Ajax team and most importantly to forward, Dusan Tadic who turned provider twice and found the net twice also.
Real have been battered and knocked out flat after crashing out of the Copa del Rey, La Liga title race and Champions League all in the space of one week.
Their fall from grass to grace came as early as the 7th-minute when Dusan Tadic darted behind Nacho Fernandez to square for Ziyech to sidefoot into the bottom corner. But prior to that, Raphael Varane got the first chance of the night but his header just came off the crossbar.
With eighteen minutes gone on the clock, Tadic took on five Madrid players on a fantastic run down the right including a beautiful spin move past Casemiro before laying off a perfect through ball for Neres to finish off from close range.
The feeling at the Bernabeu when Ajax got their second was nostalgic as the Dutch fans overtook the Bernabeu ultimately causing a sense of panic in Real Madrid’s play.
For all the pressure they were feeling at the time, they soon lost two of their most hardworking players of the night, Vinicius Jr. and Lucas Vazquez and a substitiution of Gareth Bale and Marco Asensio couldn’t restore parity to the game.
Ajax were simply unplayable on the counter and Real had no answer to the form Dusan Tadic had put on as he netted the third and fourth for Ajax.
Speaking for Asensio, he did get a goal for Real Madrid just like he had in the first leg but the goal this time would come as a consolation goal for Bernabeu’s boys who were torn apart.
An end to an era, don’t you think? Madrid wouldn’t have seen themselves out of all title races as early as March, but it’s happened and there’s no way back for them now.
Real Madrid 1-4 Ajax it ended
