Real Madrid group winners after emphatic win at Ajax
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Real Madrid booked an impressive 4-0 win at Ajax on Tuesday evening and qualified as Group G winners for the last 16 of the Champions League.
Jose Mourinho's side was already qualified, but needed a point to secure the first place.
In the last minutes of the match, Real could even afford to finish the match with nine men because Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos deliberately caught their second yellow cards to avoid taking a yellow card into the next round.
In the other match of the group, AC Milan beat AJ Auxerre 2-0 in France. Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ronaldinho scored for the Italian powerhouse in the second half.
Due to this result Milan also qualified for the next round and Ajax and Auxerre were eliminated.
Both Ajax and Real have an impressive past in European football, but at present the Spanish giants are far ahead of their Amsterdam opponents. They proved that once again on Tuesday. With injured Sami Khedira, Ricardo Carvalho and Gonzalo Higuain missing Real was still able to field a decent team with Cristiano Ronaldo en Karim Benzema in front, causing the defense of Ajax a lot of trouble.
Cristiano Ronaldo showed his speed and skills a few times in the first half which led to several dangerous moments in front of the Ajax goal. Mesut Azil and Benzema had chances to score, but Ajax kept a clean-sheet in the first half hour. Although the home side had its good moments, Ajax was not able to create any chances.
In the 36th minute, Real did open the scoring with Karim Benzema hitting hard after Azil dropped the ball back in front of his feet. One minute before half-time Real already secured the victory.
Ronaldo's free kick hit the wall and Alvaro Arbeloa surprised goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg in the rebound with a long distance shot.
Ajax striker Mounir El Hamdaoui injured his ankle after a Lassana Diarra tackle and was substituted for Demy de Zeeuw at halftime. The substitution did not make things better for the home team. The Ajax defense continued looking vulnerable and Ronaldo was close to punishing Ajax's weakness just after the break. However Stekelenburg saved his effort, with help from the crossbar.
In the 70th minute, the Portuguese star player found the net. He profited from poor defending by Ajax defender Gregory van der Wiel and scored Real's third goal.
A free kick by Jan Vertonghen was the only dangerous moment by Ajax in the second half. Things even got worse for Ajax when referee Craig Thomson awarded Real a penalty after a foul by Urby Emanuelson on Azil. Ronaldo converted the penalty.
With Real continuing the success story so far under Mourinho, the crisis situation in Amsterdam will stay. The audience said goodbye to the team scouting the name of club legend Johan Cruijff, who demands drastic changes in club board, management and coaching staff.
AC Milan-Ajax and Real Madrid-AJ Auxerre are the final matches in this group. Ajax is one point ahead of Auxerre and will try to keep the third place, which will bring them to the Europa League.
