The tension was high, the hearts racing at an unbelievable pace. Eyes on the television with fingers concurrently hitting the desk unintentionally. I could imagine the way every single person linked to Real Madrid, board, players, fans, exhaled calmly after finding out their opponent in the Uefa Champions League round of 16.

Real Madrid are to face Ajax Amsterdam. They travel first to Netherlands on the 13th of February 2019 and play the return leg at the Santiago Bernabeu on the 5th of March, 2019.

With respect to Ajax, without doubt, the Eredivisie conquerors are a strong team. They are a free scoring team and a great joy to behold in attack and not to forget, they gave German Machines, Bayern Munich, a run for their money in the group stage of the competition.

But truthfully and sincerely, they are one of the teams Real Madrid wish to be drawn with in the Round of 16 as they will pose lesser threats compared to elite teams in the competition.

Writing and analysing as a Real Madrid fan, Ajax is a fair draw. With this draw, Real Madrid still see a hope of clinching their 4th consecutive Uefa Champions league title and their 14th in total. What could be greater?

This season has seen Real Madrid blow hot and cold. When the season started, with Julen Lopetegui as coach, the whites started the season in electrifying form. Blowing away teams with ease and overcoming challenges, both domestic and international. But then, all of a sudden, the adorable glass cup fell and broke. What pushed it to fall is something that has eluded us till date. With some sections of the media blaming it on lack of tactical brilliance or bad decision making by the coach.

It got to an extent a huge loss at the hands of eternal rivals Barcelona was the final straw that broke the camel's back and Julen was sacked. Real Madrid B(Castilla) coach, Santiago Solari was appointed interim manager, he came in and took off to a flying start just like his predecessor. He perfected poor Lopetegui's plans and used them to great effects. He was finally named permanent coach and he continued on a win streak which ended absurdly at the hands of a very low budget La Liga team, Eibar.

We were meant to come back to earth and from whatever planet we felt we were on, made to understand that on earth, nothing lasts forever. People began to question Solari's impact on the team and that awkward 3-0 loss against Eibar. A Real Madrid team that was scoring for fun couldn't register a single goal against a team like Eibar for a complete 90 minutes.

The next match saw Solari implement another tactics, prompting everyone to believe that he was cognizant of his mistake after that loss and implemented change in the next fixture. The change being the inclusion of a pure anchor and deep lying defensive midfielder in the team. The injury to Casemiro before that loss saw Solari set out with central and attacking midfielders in the game against Eibar and the midfield were over ran time without number by an Eibar team playing a superb high line.

After the inclusion of a deep lying quality defensive midfielder in Marcos Llorente, Solari got back to winning ways, the team found balance once again and even if they no longer score much, they conceive little. The only loss young Marcos Llorente was involved in ever since his constant start was the unimportant match in the Uefa Champions League that saw Solari send out his pawns that ended up being outmaneuvered.

It is apparent the team is undergoing some changes and tweaks from the coach. A balance is wanting to be striked and Solari is looking to utilize the talents at his disposal to great effects. Injuries hasn't been favourable, but the team appear to be coming back in shape and all position covered.

Time is what is required, Solari is seeking to buy much time in other to work on the balance that has being talked on so much. Before the first and second legged ties with Ajax must have been played out, hopefully Real Madrid qualify, they must have gotten stronger and better in shape for the tougher stages.

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Note: All images are Google sourced