For the first time since May 2015 — a run stretching 46 months — Real Madrid is out of the Champions League.
Not since the semifinal against Juventus four seasons ago has Real tasted the bitterness of elimination from Europe’s premier club competition.
This time, on an enthralling evening in the Spanish capital, it was Ajax which put Real to the sword, scoring four stunning goals — the third awarded after an agonizing four-minute wait for VAR — to stun the reigning champion 4-1 on the night and 5-3 on aggregate.
For many Real managers over the years, not least Zinedine Zidane, the Champions League has provided welcome respite from underwhelming league campaigns.
When the Bernabeu floodlights come on and the Champions League anthem plays, this team has — at times in recent years — felt unbeatable.
But this season, in the gaping absence of Cristiano Ronaldo and under the leadership of two hapless managers, Julen Lopetegui and Santiago Solari, the team has become stale and predictable.
Real’s season has now crumbled, the last trophy available to win evaporated from its grasp on a humiliating night on home soil.
Following back-to-back El Clasico defeats, it seems likely Solari’s ill-fated run as manager will come to an end.
It feels like the end of an era, too.
Spain’s Marca newspaper labeled it the “failure of the century,” adding that “heads will roll” after this result.
