UEFA Champions League
Result: Real Madrid 2-3 Shakhtar Donetsk
Date: 21 October 2020
Venue: Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano
Real Madrid suffered a shock 3-2 defeat in their opening UEFA Champions League fixture of the campaign against Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday evening.
Los Blancos were without captain Sergio Ramos while Toni Kroos and Karim Benzema were only named on the bench as Zinedine Zidane seemingly had one eye on Saturday's El Clasico.
In the fifth minute, Shakhtar goalkeeper Anatolii Trubin was called into action as Marco Asensio made his way into the box. The winger went for goal from a tight angle and the Shakhtar stopper was forced to palm the ball away.
The visitors took a shock lead on the half-hour mark as Viktor Korniyenko embarked on a strong run into the area from left-back. He then did well to keep the move alive by sliding in to lay the ball off for Tete, who guided it into the far corner and beyond the reach of Thibault Courtois.
Three minutes later, the Ukrainians were in dreamland. Tete was involved again as he cut in from the right before his powerful shot was parried by Courtois. With Dentinho lurking, Raphael Varane looked to intervene but only succeeded in sending the ball beyond his own goalkeeper.
Shakhtar pulled further clear in the 42nd minute following a devastating counter. Manor Solomon found Tete, whose clever backheel put the midfielder clear on goal, and he calmly rolled the ball into the bottom corner.
Real found a lifeline in the 54th minute. Luka Modric skipped away from a couple of challenges, before unleashing a fierce 30-yard strike into the top corner.
And Vinicius reduced the deficit to one within moments of coming on in the 59th minute. The Brazilian pounced on loose play in the Shakhtar defence and after winning possession, he drove into the area before drilling a low shot into the bottom corner.
Both sides had goals ruled out for offside and there were some decent chances, too, in a thrilling end to the game as Real failed to complete the turnaround.
Other result:
RB Salzburg 2-2 Lokomotiv Moscow
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