Holders Real Madrid crashed out of the Champions League as Ajax produced a stunning 4-1 victory in the Santiago Bernabeu to reach the quarter-finals.
Los Blancos, with captain Sergio Ramos suspended after deliberately collecting a yellow card in the first leg, had been looking to build on a slender 2-1 lead from that game in Amsterdam and stay on course for a potential fourth straight European triumph.
However, after Raphael Varane's header rattled the crossbar, Ajax raced into an early lead through Hakim Ziyech before Dusan Tadic set up David Neres for a second in the 18th minute.
3/3/18: Southampton 0-0 Stoke
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) March 5, 2019
5/3/19: Real Madrid 0-2 Ajax
From battling relegation to tearing apart the Bernabeu.
Dusan Tadic that is obscene! 😱 pic.twitter.com/OuDUCIiCPZ
Real Madrid were forced into two changes when Lucas Vazquez and Vinicius Junior went off injured, with substitute Gareth Bale hitting the post just before half-time.
Ajax looked to have put the tie to bed when Tadic swept in a brilliant third goal just after the hour - which was eventually given following an extensive Video Assistant Referee review to check if the ball had gone out of play in the build-up.
Substitute Marco Asensio briefly gave Real hope when he put the ball in off the post with 20 minutes left.
What is happening at the Bernabéu?! 😳
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) March 5, 2019
Lasse Schöne scores an incredible free-kick and Ajax are running riot!
Stunning 👏 pic.twitter.com/mJ9t7Ve4Yf
Lasse Schone, though, capped a brilliant night for Erik Ten Hag's side when he curled in an angled free-kick over Thibaut Courtois on 72 minutes.
Real finished with 10 men after Nacho picked up two needless late cautions.
The defeat was a fourth successive home loss for Los Blancos following on from being beaten by arch-rivals Barcelona in LaLiga on Saturday - and will see pressure mount on manager Santiago Solari.
Ajax, meanwhile, go on to reach the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time since 2003.
Opta facts
- Real Madrid are the first reigning Champions League winners to fail to qualify for the quarter-final stage since Chelsea in 2012-13 (knocked out in the group stage).
- Real Madrid’s 4-1 defeat to Ajax was their biggest ever margin of defeat a home knockout game in European competition.
- Ajax are unbeaten in each of their previous 48 Champions League matches in which they’ve scored the opener (W40 D8).
- Ajax have progressed through a Champions League knockout stage tie for the first time in 22 years – last doing so in the 1996-97 campaign when the Dutch side prevailed against Atlético Madrid in the quarter-finals.
- Real Madrid have lost four successive games at the Bernabeu for just the third occasion in their history – also doing so in 1995 and 2004.
- Ajax are just the third away side to score 4+ goals in a Champions League match at the Bernabeu (also, Bayern Munich 4-2 in February 2000 and Schalke 4-3 in March 2015).
- Ajax are only the second team to eliminate Real Madrid from a European knockout tie having lost the first leg at home, after Odense Boldklub in the 1994-95 UEFA Cup.
- Ajax’s Dusan Tadic has been directly involved in more goals than any other player in the Champions League this season (6 goals, 3 assists).
- Dusan Tadic is the second Ajax player to have scored 6+ goals in a single Champions League campaign, after Jari Litmanen (1994-95 and 1995-96).
