European Cup legends Real Madrid are flattened by Ajax.

European Cup legends Real Madrid are flattened by Ajax.

Last night Real Madrid, who seemed to have won the European Cup - or as it's now known - the Champions League so many times that some of us have run out of fingers on which to count them, were sent crashing out of this year's competition by another of those once  European greats Ajax Amsterdam. It must have felt as one of football's giants had been slain by another of its once powerful forces.

At the Bernabeu stadium in the Spanish capital, a solemn silence fell darkly over a stunned Madrid crowd. This was the most unforgivable insult of all time, a once world beating team of such noble stature falling on its own sword, humiliated and offended by a team who, during the 1970s were rightly acclaimed as one of the best of their generation. Football can be such a notoriously cruel and fickle business that you simply can't predict with any certainty where it might be going.

In recent years both Barcelona, led by the incomparable Lionel Messi, Andre Iniesta, Javier Mascherano and company, became one of the most exciting and original teams the world had ever seen. But sadly that reign in Spain seems to have reached its natural conclusion and Barca, once a team of sweet impulses and sumptuous first time passing that seemed to have a mind of its own, are now silenced by one of the teams they thought they'd never find themselves in competition with again.

For the likes of Ajax, this could be the start of something new, a fresh page in a book that had begun to look tatty and woebegone, a team hiding in football's sometimes darker shadows with little to offer by way of consolation. We can all remember of course the Ajax of the 1970s, a magical, forward thinking, innovative team years ahead of the rest in both thought and deed, a team of immense charm and character with the kind of players who were always tuned into the same wavelength as each other.

During the 1970s the backbone of the Dutch national team, consisting of the immaculately gifted Johan Cruyff, surely a creative genius, the equally as  impeccable ball playing maestro Rudi Krol,  the equally as stylish, debonair and dashing Robbie Rensenbrink and the magisterial Johann Neeskens, did more to enhance the profile of Dutch football than at any other time in their history.

But then fate intervened. In both the 1974 and 1978 World Cup Finals, Holland were tragically deprived of the one trophy the quality of their football had so richly deserved. The era of 'Total Football', does seem to be making a welcome comeback in the short passing game so beautifully championed by both Ajax, Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Sadly, Holland were beaten quite easily by both West Germany in 1974 and Argentina in 1978 when, for brief periods during both games, Holland were by far the technically superior team on the day. And yet both Gerd Muller and Mario Kempes swiftly sucked the air out of the Dutch who, by the end of  both games, looked so demoralised by the turn of events that, to this day, some of us are still wondering whether they'll ever be crowned as World football champions.

Still, Ajax, in those famously red and white broad stripes on their familiar shirts, are back on the glory, glory trail, a side with the right balance and temperament oozing with ambition. Such is the cyclical nature of football that maybe this is the right time for Ajax. Dutch football has now been seriously wounded, damaged seemingly irreparably by that disgraceful 2010 World Cup Final when Holland resorted to violent and underhand tactics in an unsuccessful attempt to  beat Spain.

Ajax, though now find themselves in the Champions League which can only be a good thing for Dutch morale. Joining them will be Spurs, Manchester City and Manchester United who made the most marvellous recovery in their game against the ever present flair of Paris St Germain.

This year could be when the tulips of Amsterdam will bloom quite profusely. Ajax, one of the most glamorous, high profile and successful teams in European clubs, are quite possibly on the verge of something special. The Dutch masters are washing their brushes, adjusting their easels and picking out their vividly enlightening colours. It is hard to know what Vincent Van Gogh would have made of the current Ajax side but then Van Gogh never had the honour of meeting  Johan Cruyff.