4 reasons why Ajax's defeat of Real Madrid is great for the UEFA Champions League

#4 It might break some of Madrid’s power over Europe

Will Madrid's exit from the Champions League prevent them from signing top players like Thibault Courtois in the future?

As a fan of one of Europe’s bigger – but not the very biggest – clubs in Tottenham Hotspur, I can safely say that if Ajax’s defeat of Real Madrid this week breaks some of the power that Los Blancos have held over European football over the past couple of decades, it’s a great thing for everyone. Sure, the result may well have the opposite effect – we don’t know yet – but we can all hold out some hope, right?

Sure, other teams like Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City might flex their financial muscles a little more than Real, but no club seems to have the power to seemingly demand that the best players in Europe join them quite like the Spanish giants do. As has been said on numerous occasions before, when Real Madrid come after a player, the move is a mere formality. And that’s horribly frustrating for fans of Europe’s other clubs.

When they were winning the Champions League seemingly every season, of course, it was hard for any top player to turn them down – witness Thibaut Courtois’s move to the Bernabeu this summer. But now Ajax have dumped them out of the competition they believe is “theirs” in the Round of 16? Maybe players might think twice about a move there, particularly if they’re already at a side contending for European glory.

If Ajax’s victory over Real has broken some of their stranglehold of power to attract the world’s best players no matter what, then that’s excellent for the whole sport.