Real Madrid opened its 2020-21 Champions League campaign on Wednesday night against Shakhtar Donetsk at home. Despite being heavily favored to win this match, things didn’t quite go as planned for the all-time leaders in UCL triumphs.
Los Blancos went behind 0-3 in the first half against a Shakhtar Donetsk side that was missing a number of first-team players due to positive COVID-19 tests and was unable to complete a comeback in the second half.
The Ukrainians went ahead 0-1 in the 29th minute after a Tete goal, and a Raphael Varane mistake in front of Thibault Courtois’s net led to Shakhtar’s lead being doubled just four minutes later.
A counter-attack by the visitors led to a Solomon goal just before the half, and Real Madrid found itself in big trouble down 0-3 heading into the half.
Real Madrid appeared to have hope early in the second half after Luka Modric scored a long-range wonder goal to cut their deficit to 1-3. Just five minutes later and just after entering as a substitute, Vinicius Jr’s strike cut Shakhtar’s lead to 2-3.
However, despite trying and trying until the final whistle, Real Madrid was unable to score a goal to tie up the match, and they ended as 2-3 losers.
Los Blancos will attempt to get back on track in the Champions League next week against Borussia Monchengladbach, while Shakhtar Donetsk will look to grab a second consecutive upset against Inter Milan.
