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Champions League: Ajax thrashes Real Madrid; Tottenham advances

By Connor Grott
Ajax players celebrate their win after the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg match between Real Madrid and Ajax Amsterdam on Tuesday at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, Spain. Photo by Juanjo Martin/EPA-EFE
Ajax players celebrate their win after the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg match between Real Madrid and Ajax Amsterdam on Tuesday at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, Spain. Photo by Juanjo Martin/EPA-EFE

March 5 (UPI) -- Ajax Amsterdam stunned Real Madrid in dominant fashion with a 4-1 victory in the round of 16 on Tuesday to complete a 5-3 aggregate comeback win, and Tottenham cruised into the Champions League quarterfinals with a 1-0 win over Borussia Dortmund to advance 4-0 on aggregate.

Real Madrid, winners of the last three Champions League finals, won the first leg 2-1 in Amsterdam but found itself in a 2-0 deficit in the first 20 minutes of the match.

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Hakim Ziyech gave Ajax a quick 1-0 lead in the seventh minute with a scoring strike. David Neres added a goal in the 18th minute to push Ajax's advantage to 2-0.

Ajax boosted its lead to 3-0 in the 62nd minute with a score from Dusan Tadic. After a Madrid goal from Marco Asensio, Ajax answered with a score from Lasse Schone on a free kick.

With the loss, Madrid was eliminated from the competition. Real Madrid had reached at least the semifinals in eight consecutive seasons and hadn't failed to advance past the round of 16 since 2010.

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Ajax was playing in the round of 16 for the first time since 2006.

In other Champions League action, Tottenham advanced to the quarterfinals with its win over Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday.

Harry Kane scored three minutes after halftime to guide the Spurs to the win.

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