Real Madrid’s Champions League defense came crashing down in a humiliating home defeat to Ajax on Tuesday, ending their three-year grip on the trophy.
The Eredivisie side triumphed 4-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu to prevail 5-3 on aggregate in the last-16 tie and pile further pressure on Madrid boss Santiago Solari.
Defeat marks the first time since 2009-10 that Madrid have been eliminated at this stage of the competition and comes on the back of consecutive Clasico losses to Barcelona in the Copa del Rey and LaLiga.
Here, with the help of Opta, is a look at some of the key stats behind Madrid’s shock exit from the competition.
– 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).
– Madrid’s 4-1 defeat to Ajax was their biggest ever margin of defeat in a home knockout game in European competition.
– Ajax 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 Atletico Madrid in the quarter-finals.
– 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 four or more 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.
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