El Clasico Final Denied as Real Madrid's Season Collapses with Juventus Defeat

Thousands gathered in the streets outside the Santiago Bernabeu hours before kick-off. Singing, chanting, the sea of Real Madrid fans sent a bullish wave around football's most glamorous address. 

Four days earlier, the same site had been awash with frustration following the draw with Valencia, but this felt different. Negativity that has lingered this calendar year wasn't apparent.

James Rodriguez had delivered a rallying cry. A massive banner in support of Iker Casillas was present at the ground. Karim Benzema was back. Gareth Bale was fit. Manager Carlo Ancelotti had been on the front foot. And this was the Champions League, a byword for Real Madrid excellence. 

"We've now got one half of the final we were all hoping for," wrote AS editor Alfredo Relano in the buildup, anticipating a Clasico finale to this European adventure following Barcelona's progression past Bayern Munich on Tuesday. 

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Though Los Blancos needed to erase a 2-1 deficit, confidence appeared high in the Spanish capital. ESPN's Soccer Power Index had Real Madrid with a 65 percent chance to advance. Given their pedigree, it seemed logical.

"I don't know what it is that Real Madrid have got, but they never know they're beaten," Barcelona's Xavi once admitted, per Sid Lowe's outstanding Fear and Loathing in La Liga.

Yet that quality hasn't always been in abundance in 2015. As such, despite the buoyant mood and public solidarity, there had also been a recognition of the consequences should it all go wrong for Wednesday's hosts. 

"Berlin or bust," announced Marca. "Madrid are just one goal away from Berlin, but also one step away from a fiasco should tonight turn out badly," added Relano. Also at AS, Juanma Trueba declared that "the champions jump without a net." Both more emotive and telling, however, was Trueba's assertion that "at the end of the wire is Berlin and on each side the vacuum of failure and a lost season opens up." 

Yet, for large parts of Wednesday's clash with Juventus, such dire possibilities seemed distant.

After an even opening 15 minutes, Real Madrid were dominant: Marcelo and Daniel Carvajal were excellent in attack. Rodriguez's passing was sublime. Bale's rasping shot forced a spectacular save from Gianluigi Buffon. Benzema was causing the visitors headaches. Cristiano Ronaldo dispatched of a penalty emphatically. Isco was lively. And the troublesome Carlos Tevez was quiet. 

Though the scoreboard didn't reflect it, Juventus had looked a little ragged, and Real Madrid had been excellent. Not quite vintage, but very good. Late-2014 good.

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But then Alvaro Morata scored, just as he did last week in Turin. A day earlier, Marca ran a piece by Jose Luis Calderon titled, "The ghosts of Real's past," which detailed former players who've landed body blows to the club. It finished with: "Morata?"

Tick. 

The pivotal goal from a former son saw the bubbling atmosphere dissipate from the stadium. What then followed was odd because it didn't resemble Real's DNA: Bale squandered chances. Ronaldo drifted out of the game. Benzema tired. Toni Kroos looked leggy. Isco's influence waned. And the defence became disjointed. 

Progressively, Real's attempts to claw one back became less structured and increasingly frantic. Then they just sort of petered out, with Casillas' botched throw-in in the final seconds summing it up.

The ferocious start ended up amounting to nothing. 

Just like the entire campaign.

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"It's painful to throw away a whole season's work," remarked Sergio Ramos in the game's immediate aftermath, per Marca, summing up the feeling that now surrounds Real Madrid. 

How it got to this point might baffle historians in years to come. In November, this writer was certain that this Real Madrid outfit was on course for a historic season. On track for 145 league goals, on their way to 22 straight wins, Ronaldo in record-breaking form, having swept aside Barcelona and eyeing a treble, Los Blancos appeared to have it all—stars, power, balance, momentum; you name it, they seemed to have it. 

Now all they have is a lost season. Shattered dreams. A bunch of what-ifs. 

Explanations for a season of promise ending in this fashion will be vast. People will point fingers at injuries, form loss, internal and external pressure, fatigue, depth issues, a lack of rotation and unwanted publicity. But it's how all those factors coincided in such a hurry and with such effect that is startling.

"We say goodbye to the league," Carvajal said on Saturday after the draw with Valencia. Now Real Madrid can do the same to the whole season.