Real Madrid made an embarrassing start in the Champions League on Wednesday by losing 3-2 at home to a depleted Shakhtar Donetsk, their second consecutive defeat ahead of the Clasico against Barcelona on Saturday.
Shakhtar were without 10 first-team players and nine members of staff due to coronavirus infections but recorded a remarkable win at the Alfredo di Stefano stadium, after scoring three times in 13 first-half minutes.
Tete gave the visitors the lead
And soon after Raphael Varane’s own goal made it two for Shakhtar.
Before Manor Solomon brought the goal tally to three-way before half time, a lead they maintained into the break.
After the break, Luka Modric and Vinicius Junior pulled goals back for Real Madrid who clearly couldn’t believe their eyes as they struggled to make up for all their lapses.
Fede Valverde thought he had grabbed an equaliser in injury time but his deflected shot was ruled out after VAR showed Vinicius was offside and just like that the Ukrainian champions secured a “fairytale” and historic win away against Real Madrid in the champions, naturally, as expected, their excitement knew no bounds.
The huge upset puts Madrid on the back foot in Group B, especially as Shakhtar were, in theory, their weakest opponent, the others being Inter Milan and Borussia Moenchengladbach.
The Spanish Champions have now lost three consecutive matches in the Champions League for the first time since 1986.
It was a woeful outing especially when you chip in the dreadful display in last weekend’s loss to Cadiz still at the Santiago Bernabeu and bear in mind, both games had no Sergio Ramos.
The season only just started, but we can’t help but wonder what is wrong with this Real Madrid side right now?
