Santiago Solari's refusal to rotate his squad despite going into the Champions League tie having played two demanding Clásicos ended up backfiring. Solari left various star players out of the starting line up such as Isco, Asensio and Marcelo. This left his squad, which now has no realistic chance of winning a major trophy this season, physically drained.
The lack of changes from the Argentinian coach meant that the side from the Spanish capital ran just 105.307 kilometres against Ajax. The 2nd lowest amount of any Real Madrid game in the Champions League this season after the 104.127 kilometres run in the 0-3 loss to CSKA Moscow which was also in the Santiago Bernabéu.
Toni Kroos, singled out by the Madrid faithful for his drop in performance, was the player which ran the most against the Dutch outfit (10,978 metres), ahead of Dani Carvajal (10,569 metres) and Sergio Reguilón (10,556 metres).
Likewise, the German midfielder is the player who has run the furthest (81,420 metres), with an average of 10,178 metres per encounter. Figures which question the managing of his troops from Solari having players on the bench like Isco and Ceballos.