Publications
Partners
The Champions League trophy was in Mzansi this week and scores of fans made their way to Sandton and Durban to view the big-eared silver prize.
But, 11 480km away, in Madrid, Spain, the holders of the trophy, Real Madrid, were humiliated by Ajax Amsterdam 5-3 on aggregate.
This is a team with an average age of 24 and whose combined budget for their first team, reserve team and youth team are on par with Gareth Bale’s annual salary.
Then there was the nightmare in Paris, when Manchester United came from a two-goal first-leg deficit to beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-3 on the away goals rule in stoppage time. The kicker and a controversial video assistant referee review changed the entire ending at Le Parc des Princes.
There was also the extra time comeback in Portugal, where Porto took the initiative with consistent attacks to come back from a 2-1 first-leg defeat to win by one goal in the extra 30 minutes before penalties.
In a relatively demure game in Germany, Harry Kane added one more goal to the aggregate tally as Tottenham Hotspur kept a clean sheet over the two legs to deny Borussia Dortmund entry into the last right.
But the best part of the first four teams that were knocked out were the headlines the day after:
In Madrid, AS and Marca led with “Semana trágica [Tragic week]” and “Here lies a team that made history. Humiliating; end of an era; unrepeatable”.
Mundo Deportivo ran with the headline “Nada de Nada [Absolutely nothing]”. With the editorial reading “disaster with a capital ‘D’”.
In Paris, L’Equipe went with “Encore Pire [Even worse]”, in reference to PSG’s shock exit. The Daily Telegraph went with “United party like it’s 1999” and the Daily Mirror’s play on words was “Marc de Triomphe”.
In Portugal, O Jogo led with “Do inferno ao olimpo [From hell to Olympus]”.
But it was all smiles in England for Tottenham.
The Telegraph said “Kane’s smash and grab” and the Mirror said “Yellow haul” in reference to Dortmund’s Yellow wall of fans.
