Real Madrid beaten by Shakhtar again, leaving Champions League hopes in the balance
Real Madrid suffered another defeat at the hands of Shakhtar Donetsk in this season's Champions League, going down 2-0 to the Ukrainians in Kiev on Tuesday to leave their hopes of achieving the last 16 in the total amount.
Substitutes Dentinho and Manor Solomon both scored second-half goals as Shakhtar stunned the 13-time European champions again, having already won 3-2 in Madrid in October.
Shakhtar had lost their last two Group B matches against Borussia Moenchengladbach by an aggregate score of 10-0, but this victory allowed them to go above Real into second place in the group with one game remaining.
Gladbach top the section, while Shakhtar now have the upper hand on Real because of their superior head-to-head record, while this result does mean Inter Milan retain an outside potential for qualifying before their game later.
Madrid have managed to get out of their group in annually since 1997. If Gladbach beat Inter later, Real will no longer have their destiny in their own hands entering the final round in a few days.
Zinedine Zidane's team were time for the scene of their victory over Liverpool in the 2018 final, nonetheless they looked a shadow of their former selves in the snow in Kiev's Olympic Stadium, and the result further underlined just how much they miss defensive talisman Sergio Ramos when he's not there.
This is Real's seventh defeat within the last nine Champions League matches they have played without Ramos, who's currently injured.
Perhaps this game could have proved differently had Marco Asensio scored in the fifth minute instead of turn Karim Benzema's cross onto the post, nonetheless they continued to slump to a third defeat in their last five matches in all competitions.
Dentinho had replaced the injured Junior Moraes in the first half and the Brazilian got the opening goal right before the hour mark.
Ferland Mendy intercepted a Viktor Kovalenko ball into the box but only succeeded in laying it on a plate for Dentinho to tuck past Thibaut Courtois and in.
The Ukrainian champions then made sure of their victory on the counter-attack with eight minutes remaining as Israeli international Solomon found the ball on halfway and advanced unchallenged before picking his spot.
