´Tragic week´, ´End of an era´ – How the Spanish press reacted to Real Madrid´s Ajax humiliation

Real Madrid’s stranglehold on the Champions League came to an unceremonious and humiliating end against Ajax on Tuesday.

A stunned and angry Santiago Bernabeu watched on in disbelief as the Eredivisie side thumped the three-time defending champions 4-1 to secure a remarkable 5-3 aggregate triumph.

It marked the first time Madrid have been knocked out in the last 16 since the 2009-10 season, while not since 2012-13 have the previous season’s winners failed to make the last eight (Chelsea were knocked out in the group stages).

Santiago Solari’s short reign as head coach is now in a perilous position with the shambolic surrender following back-to-back Clasico defeats to Barcelona that ended their Copa del Rey and LaLiga title ambitions.

The Spanish press have piled into Madrid following their meek exit and here we round up the best of the newspaper reaction.

Here lies a team that made history – Marca  

A tagline that reads “[A] humiliating end of an unrepeatable cycle” pretty much summed up the mood for Madrid-favoured daily Marca, who had a poignant image of the scoreboard above an emptying Bernabeu.

#LaPortada  Aquí yace un equipo que hizo historia https://t.co/EOARfbQ7Kx

— MARCA (@marca) March 6, 2019

Tragic week – AS

It was straight to the point from AS with a two-word summary of one of the bleakest weeks in the illustrious history of Los Blancos. The daily added a tweet of Real Madrid’s crest in broken pieces with the caption: The best love story ever told ends.

Buenos días! Disastrous week… Real Madrid suffered their heaviest home defeat in Champions League history to Ajax last night. In little over 7 days, their season is already over. Here’s today’s front cover of AS: pic.twitter.com/ir5Bg62kzT

— AS English (@English_AS) March 6, 2019

Se termina la mejor historia de amor jamás contada.
El Madrid de las tres Champions consecutivas claudica en octavos.
2016
2017
2018
 2019 pic.twitter.com/DcG5nUQBJt

— AS (@diarioas) March 5, 2019

End of an era! – SPORT 

There was little surprise that sympathy from Catalan paper SPORT for Madrid’s plight was in short supply, while there was also focus on soon-to-be Barcelona import Frenkie de Jong’s performance for Ajax.

#portadaSPORT  

 FIN DE UNA ERA https://t.co/kblqx06MLA pic.twitter.com/wKZvMta433

— Diario SPORT (@sport) March 5, 2019

Nothing at all! – Mundo Deportivo

Another Catalan paper similarly shone a glaring spotlight on Madrid’s failure.

Hola!
La portada de este miércoles 6 de marzo:

 ‘NADA DE NADA’ https://t.co/dpqIVmnotj #portada #deporte #ucl pic.twitter.com/6EblTULB9w

— Mundo Deportivo (@mundodeportivo) March 5, 2019

The fall of the Gods – La Gazzetta dello Sport

Naturally, it was not just the Spanish press that focused heavily on Madrid’s misfortune. The embarrassing setback has been heavily covered worldwide including this strong headline from Italian paper La Gazzetta.

La prima pagina della #gazzetta oggi in edicola! https://t.co/QoAurgu4d9 pic.twitter.com/Opo7ZsLSZ0

— LaGazzettadelloSport (@Gazzetta_it) March 6, 2019