He Real Madrid He did not achieve the long-awaited comeback to get into the final phase of Lisbon, he was defeated at the hands of Manchester City (2-1) in the round of 16 and repeats the same displeasure as last year, when he was felled in the same instance by the Amsterdam Ajax when, then yes, he was the big favorite to be in the quarters.
The white team, penalized in a way by the two flagrant errors of Raphael Varane that led to the citizens goals, fail again in Europe in a course that saves thanks to the league title. Without the escort of the sanctioned Ramos, the French center-back was shipwrecked in his darkest night with Madrid.
For Zinedine Zidane the experience is new: nobody had ever eliminated him in the top continental competition. Since joining the team for the first time in January 2016, the French coach, with Cristiano as the flag, has overcome 12 consecutive ties (finals included) to achieve three Champions consecutive.
If in the previous campaign the Real Madrid, with Solari on the bench, he ended eight consecutive seasons reaching at least the semifinals (a record in the competition), now he has two consecutive eliminations in the first substitution after overcoming the group stage.
This bump in his favorite competition takes him back to Madrid to times not so distant, such as when between 2004 and 2009 he was systematically eliminated in the round of 16, a curse that Jose Mourinho remedied by reaching the semifinals of 2010, where the whites were eliminated by Barcelona. Before, Madrid were successively beaten down by Bayern (2004), Juve (2005), Arsenal (2006), Bayern (2007), Roma (2008) and Lyon (2009).