In a match that will go down in Dutch football history, Ajax hammered Real Madrid 4-1 in the Bernabeu to progress to the Champions League quarter-finals. Ajax progress 5-3 on aggregate.
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Ajax headed to the Bernabeu still dreaming of what could have been in the first-leg in Amsterdam. Erik ten Hag’s side dominated but couldn’t take their chances and fell to a 2-1 defeat.
Erik ten Hag went for the same eleven that valiantly lost in the Johan Cruijff ArenA as they looked for a sensational result. Real Madrid, licking their wounds from two straight losses to Barcelona, had something to prove, and they dominated the early minutes with Raphael Varane, in for the suspended Sergio Ramos, hitting the bar.
However, after seven minutes, Ajax nicked the ball in the Real Madrid half and Dusan Tadic cut back for Hakim Ziyech to find the bottom corner. The goal gave Ajax confidence and ten minutes later it was 2-0. Tadic again the architect with a sensational turn before he played in David Neres to flick the ball into the net.
Neres then missed a great chance to add a third as Ajax silenced the home crowd. Hakim Ziyech also saw a shot kept out by Thibaut Courtois.
Real Madrid who lost Lucas Vasquez and Vinicius JR through injury looked to get a goal back before the break, but the post denied Gareth Bale while Daley Blind made an excellent block to keep out a Marco Asensio strike.
The home side started the second half strongly and Asensio curled a strike just wide. However, Ajax then took control again and created chances for the third with van de Beek denied by Courtois before Noussair Mazraoui fired into the side netting.
On the hour-mark, Mazraoui kept the ball in play with a sensational tackle which started a counter-attack that ended with Tadic finding the top corner with an excellent strike to make it 3-0. VAR looked at the images of Mazraoui’s tackle for what would have felt like an age for Ajax fans but eventually a goal was given.
Real Madrid needed three goals to progress and with twenty minutes left, Asensio pulled one back with a low strike into the bottom corner.
The home crowd were expecting a comeback but Lasse Schone ended any chance of that with a stunning free-kick from a difficult angle which flew over Courtois to make it 4-1.
After that goal, Ajax remained comfortable and they could have added a fifth but Ziyech fired over from yards out. Real Madrid were then sent down to ten-men with Nacho shown red in injury time.
An incredible victory for Ajax who become the first team to knock Real Madrid out of the competition since 2015. Erik ten Hag’s side progress to the last eight in a night to remember for Dutch football fans.
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i am really proud to be an Ajax fan the team was exceptional tonight….finally talent beat money
if we can keep our players we can see Ajax legacy back again but sadly de jong is the first to leave
and btw Dusan Tadic deal is a baragin for Ajax he has been phenomenal since the start of the ucl
but the credit must goes for all 11 men that were on the pitch fighting aginst the European champions
hope this year will be ours
Magnificent performance from Ajax. The overall team performance was just superb, but Tadic was unworldly – on a completely different level today.
With the financial disparity in world football today it’s extremely hard for a Dutch club to succeed at this level, so the team and its fans should be especially proud of this performance, as should fans of other clubs in Holland because Ajax did a massive favor for the coefficient too.
Cracking match to watch!
Congratulations to Ajax footballers and fans.