‘What we did in 1995 was fantastic, but this tops the lot’: Ajax icon Ronald De Boer claims 4-1 demolition of Real Madrid is club’s finest hour
- Ajax stunned Real Madrid on Tuesday with a 4-1 win in the Champions League
- A youthful side overturned a 2-1 first leg deficit to progress in some style
- Real Madrid were humiliated in what was their earliest exit in the last nine years
- Ajax beat Madrid at home in 1995 but Ronald De Boer says this ‘tops the lot’
- REPORT: Dusan Tadic shines as reigning champions crash out in humiliation
Ajax great Ronald De Boer believes Tuesday night’s 4-1 rout of Real Madrid is the Dutch club’s finest hour.
After losing the first leg 2-1 in Amsterdam, the odds were stacked against Erik ten Hag’s young side. But they turned on the style at the Bernabeu and put on one of their best performances in recent years to knock out the reigning champions.
Ajax’s 1995 team, which included De Boer, ran out 2-0 winners in Madrid in a side that featured legendary striker Raul, but the former Dutch midfielder feels the exploits of the club’s current crop ranks as the best achievement.
Ajax’s 4-1 win over Real Madrid on Tuesday is club’s ‘finest hour,’ says icon Ronald de Boer
The Dutch side produced one of their finest performances in Europe to knock the holders out
Ajax fans who made the trip to Spain were left in raptures as they progressed to the last eight
‘What we did in 1995 [beating Real 2-0 in Madrid] was fantastic, but this tops the lot,’ the 48-year-old Dutchman told Veronica TV.
That 1995 side who beat Real went on to reach the final that season but succumbed to Juventus in the final.
Ajax started with purpose as they posted a memorable 5-3 aggregate win to reach the quarter-finals.
David Neres squeezed his shot past Thibaut Courtois to make it 2-0 as Ajax turned on the style
Former Southampton midfielder Dusan Tadic was the man of the moment as he dominated
Goals from Hakim Ziyech, David Neres, Dusan Tadic and Lasse Schone left home supporters stunned and ensured Real Madrid’s season was all-but extinguished having been knocked out of three competitions in a single week.
Ajax are four-time European champions but have been without a Champions League title since 1994-95.
The Dutch giants will feature in the last eight for the first time since 2002-03 and having beaten the holders, they will fear no-one now.
The crushing result marked the first time in nine years that Real have gone out in the last-16 and leaves both the players and the management under the microscope after another poor campaign.
De Boer, pictured in 1995, feels the current crop’s win exceeds any other result at the club
Real Madrid players show their frustrations as the holders suffered their worst exit since 2010
