Real Madrid’s Champions League hopes are hanging in the balance after they lost 2-0 at Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday, leaving their fate in reaching the knockout stages out of their hands heading into the final round of matches.
The 13-times European Cup winners went behind in the 57th minute when Shakhtar substitute Dentinho capitalised on a lapse in concentration by defender Raphael Varane to score.
Israeli forward Manor Solomon then wrapped up the home side’s shock win over the Spanish champions in the 82nd with a solo run on the counter and finish into the bottom corner.
Dentinho came on in the first half to replace striker Junior Moraes, who was injured after being hauled down by Varane in a bid to prevent the forward racing towards goal unchallenged.
Shakhtar, who beat Madrid 3-2 away in October, are second in Group B on seven points, level with Zinedine Zidane’s Real side but above them due to their superior head-to-head record.
Madrid host leaders Borussia Moenchengladbach next week in their final game when Shakhtar visit bottom side Inter Milan.
The Spaniards had pulled off a convincing 2-0 win at Inter in their last European outing while the Ukrainians were hammered 4-0 away to Gladbach, though Zidane’s side were brought back to earth with Saturday’s shock 2-1 home loss to Alaves in La Liga.
Real were missing record signing Eden Hazard after another injury to the Belgian and were still without captain Sergio Ramos, though they were boosted by the return of Karim Benzema.
They looked the better side before the interval and nearly scored an early goal when Marco Asensio hit the post from a tight angle, but the second half belonged to Shakhtar who savoured another upset win over the kings of European football.
