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After heading into Tuesday night's Champions League last 16 clash against Ajax 2-1 up, the expectation was that Real Madrid would safely book their passage into the quarter-finals of the competition. 

Instead, in one of their most humiliating exits in European competition, Los Blancos lost 4-1 at home to well and truly end their modern era dominance of the Champions League.

Having lost both Zinedine Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo last summer, many Madrid fans would have anticipated that this season would be slightly more transitional, but very few could have imagined the absolute free-fall the club would slip in to.

The defeat to Ajax now means that Madrid have lost four consecutive games at their famed Santiago Bernabeu for just the third time in their history; with the other two occurring in 1995 and 2004.

Madrid lost to Girona in mid-February, before falling twice to arch-rivals Barcelona in both the Copa del Rey and La Liga, and then suffered the ignominy of their fourth consecutive home defeat on Tuesday. 


Santiago Solari's side's abysmal home form in recent weeks has only served to heighten the calls of radical change being needed at the club, with fans at the Bernabeu notoriously demanding of their players.

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The club's latest defeat may mark the ending of the old era and the beginning of a new one, with reports suggesting that Jose Mourinho has already been lined up as Solari's successor, along with Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino.