Monaco - 3 Real Madrid - 1: Reality will bite deep across Castilla today, though they will still struggle to comprehend. Real Madrid have been propelled out of the Champions League, humbled incredibly by an unfancied French side

Quite how los galacticos succumbed here last night having won 4-2 at the Bernabeu will draw a livid reaction in the Spanish capital for some time to come, and the repercussions could be desperately painful for Carlos Queiroz and his players. This tie should have been a formality. Instead, the two goals conceded to Fernando Morientes, a player unwanted by Real and loaned to Monaco, over the two legs have catapulted Real from the competition. Chelsea can ill afford to take these opponents for granted.

Real attacked with their breathless verve but also defended with customary timidity. By the interval they had gained, then lost, a lead, leaving the locals with some hope despite the concession of a glorious opener. Zinedine Zidane's mouth-watering chip, which had Flavio Roma tipping away, set the tone for Real to swagger, yet it took 36 minutes for them to conjure a finish from the slick approach play.

Then Zidane emerged from midfield to feed Ronaldo, whose fizzed cross was dummied by Guti in the centre and curled deliciously beyond Roma by Raul.

The goal was majestic, yet Monaco had good reason to feel aggrieved to be in arrears. To their credit, they responded. Their inspiration was their diminutive captain Ludovic Giuly. Twice he had battered at goal only to see his efforts blocked, with Morientes following his lead by hammering a free-kick which Iker Casillas did wonderfully to save.

Unperturbed, and with the game drifting into first-half stoppage time, Giuly waited for Jerome Rothen's looped cross to drop before dispatching a 20-yard volley, bobbling away from Casillas, into the corner.

That raised the French League leaders' self-belief, with the fallibility of the nervous Alvaro Mejia being further cause for optimism. Yet it was one of Real's own who edged Monaco closer to the unthinkable. Patrice Evra's cross in the frantic early exchanges of the second half appeared innocuous but Morientes planted an imperious header across Casillas and into the net. Real were rattled and seemingly unable to click out of showboating mode, the lacklustre Ronaldo typifying their mood even as unlikely crisis became a reality.

When Giuly flicked Hugo Ibarra's inswinging centre home from close range, the Spanish were, incredibly, playing catch-up.

Had Shabani Nonda's late header not careered back off a post, a trick repeated in injury-time by Emmanuel Adebayor, their cause would have been wrecked beyond doubt. As it was, Raul had a header disallowed for offside amid frayed nerves before departing, scowling, with the locals in delirious disbelief.

AS MONACO: Roma, Evra, Ibarra, Rodriguez, Givet, Plasil, Giuly (El Fakiri 82), Cisse, Rothen, Prso (Nonda 61), Morientes (Adebayor 84). Subs not used: Sylva, Juan, Grax, Lescure. Booked: Roma. Goals: Giuly 45, Morientes 48, Giuly 66.

REAL MADRID: Casillas, Salgado (Bravo 84), Carlos, Helguera, Mejia, Zidane, Guti (Portillo 87), Borja (Solari 71), Raul, Ronaldo, Figo. Subs not used: Cesar, Pavon, Cambiasso, Nunez. Booked: Helguera, Borja.Goals: Raul 35.

Referee: Pierluigi Collina (Italy).