As Real Madrid are condemned to a late, heartbreaking defeat in the South of Germany, let's analyse why the game brutally exposed the poor summer transfer window
As we know, Real Madrid were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League by Bayern Munich on Wednesday, losing 4-3 on the night and 6-4 on aggregate to sum up a miserable season so far.
Although it was a much better performance than recent games, and it could have gone either way, ultimately the evening ended in disappointment once again.
The failure to progress to the semi-finals can be pinpointed back to last summer's transfer window. The club brought in; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dean Huijsen,Alvaro Carreras and Franco Mastantuono.
Well, only one of those four players started the game last night in Alexander-Arnold, who put in a very good performance - creating a big chance for Kylian Mbappe and making a goal saving intervention on his former team mate Luis Diaz.
However, Huijsen and Carreras were unused subs, whilst Mastantuno came on in stoppage time. This is an admittance that the transfer window as a complete and total failure.
Last season, Real Madrid failed to win any of La Liga, the UEFA Champions League, or Copa del Rey. So, the window became key - can you successfully improve the team and the squad?
For only one of those four signings to start in the biggest game of the season is just so poor. And that signing was hardly great talent ID. Everybody knows how good Alexander-Arnold was and is from his his time at Liverpool.
The other three signings were more calculated risks. Signing a player from Bournemouth who play in front of 10,000 people. From Benfica in a much weaker league, and from River Plate on a different continent.
Those are the types of signings that take more scouting. Can they adapt to a different league, a different style of play, the pressure of playing for Real Madrid, all of that. So far, the answer is no.
The best example is Carreras. Los Blancos made a 50 million Euros investment for him last summer. Not cheap. Yet he was given such a torrid time by Michael Olise in the first leg that fans were begging for Ferland Mendy - a player not seen as good enough for years now - to come back for the second leg.
Truth be told, the Frenchman did a much better job, keeping Olise relatively quiet until his goal with the last kick of the game. The fact the player that was meant to be replaced by Carreras is seen as the better option says it all really.
As for Huijsen, he is not a terrible player, and there is a chance he will come good. However, injuries and inconsistent performances have not helped so far. At least he was benched for a pretty solid partnership in Antonio Rudiger and Eder Militao.
You can see why he was signed, and long term it may well work out. If, and it's a big if, Militao can stay fit, that could be an exciting partnership. However, the same logic cannot be applied to Mastantuono.
The Argentine always felt like a weird signing, in all honesty. You can argue Real Madrid needed a right sided attacker. But was an 18-year old from Argentina the necessary option?
So far this season, Brahim Diaz - very much seen as a back up, bit part player - has played 36 minutes more than Mastantuono, despite being away for a month on AFCON duty.
It's early days, but those numbers are pretty damning, and not a good look. Those funds could have been much better spent in other areas of the pitch. Let's hope this summer yields a much more productive window.