Real Madrid 1-4 Ajax: Dutch side knock reigning champions Madrid out of UCL
Match Facts
100% of teams to have won 2-1 away from home in the first leg of a Champions League knockout match have progressed to the next round (8 previous cases).
Real Madrid have won their last seven games in all competitions against Ajax (22 goals for, 3 against), the best ever run for the Spanish side against a single opponent in European competition. Ajax’s last victory against the Merengues was back in November 1995: 2-0 in the Champions League group stages at the Bernabeu with goals from Jari Litmanen and Patrick Kluivert.
It’s 22 years since Ajax progressed through a Champions League knockout stage tie – in the 1996-97 campaign when the Dutch side prevailed against Atlético Madrid in the quarter-finals before being eliminated by Juventus in the semi-finals.
Real Madrid have won the Champions League four times in the last five seasons. Juventus were the last team to eliminate Real in a Champions League knockout phase, back in the 2014-15 semi-finals.
Real Madrid have reached the Champions League semi-finals in each of the last eight campaigns, a record run in the history of the competition.
Real Madrid have lost two of their last five home games in the Champions League (W2 D1), as many as in their previous 48 at the Bernabeu combined (W40 D6 L2).
Ajax’s last away win in the Champions League knockout stages was in March 1997 – it was in Madrid, against Atlético (3-2).
11 of Ajax’s 12 goals in this season’s Champions League have been scored in the second-half (92%).
Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema has either scored or assisted a goal in each of his six Champions League matches against Ajax (4 goals, 4 assists). In the first leg, he became only the fourth player to reach the 60-goal tally in the competition after Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Raul.
Four of Real Madrid forward Marco Asensio’s five Champions League goals have been scored in the knockout stages.
In the first leg against Real Madrid, Ajax’s Hakim Ziyech scored his first Champions League goal with his 30th shot in the competition.