By Allan Wasike
Defending Champions Real Madrid were knocked out of the Champions League by Ajax Tuesday evening for the first time since May 2015.
Real have won the competition for the previous three years and haven’t tasted elimination since their semi-final loss to Juventus four seasons ago.
Ajax’s Dušan Tadić, who was named the Man Of The Match, assisted twice (Hakim Ziyech 7′ and David Neres 18′) before firing home a goal of his own at the 62nd minute.
Real Madrid pulled back one at the 70th minute through Marco Asensio but Lasse Schöne curled in a free-kick goal that would then make the Real’s qualification slim at the 72nd Minute.
Real had previously suffered a home defeat to Barca in an El Classico tie, this brought the total number of Barcelona’s El Classico wins to 96 as compared to Real’s 95.
Statistics have shown that Real Madrid has deteriorated in form ever since the departure of Christiano Ronaldo.
Although Los Blancos have made an effort to replace their ace by the acquisition of the likes of Vinicius Jnr, the void is yet to be filled.
Players like Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale who were believed to shine after the departure of Roro since he was overshadowing them have failed to step up.
With Ronaldo in their squad, Real Madrid have made it to the semi-finals in the last 8 Champions League seasons winning four of these times ( 2013/2014, 2015/2016, 2016/2017 and 2017/2018).
Los Blancos have failed to score in four consecutive games in all competitions – a run which stretches to almost 400 minutes without scoring a goal. According to Opta, this is Real Madrid’s worst ever run since the club went five matches without a goal in 1985.
With Ronaldo, never for once did the club even go three games without getting on the scoresheet. From this stat, it is obvious that the vacuum left by the Portuguese is yet to be filled and Real Madrid are currently bearing the brunt.
Is Eden Hazard the right replacement for Ronaldo? Share your views.