Real Madrid vs. Shakhtar Donetsk: Winners and Losers from Champions League Game
Real Madrid got their UEFA Champions League campaign off to a winning start as they comfortably beat Shakhtar Donetsk 4-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Karim Benzema scored the opener after a terrible goalkeeping error, but the match was fairly close until a crazy spell at the start of the second half saw Taras Stepanenko sent off for Shakhtar and a poor officiating decision awarded Real a penalty. Cristiano Ronaldo scored it, then repeated the trick soon after—and finished off a hat-trick with a goal near the end of the 90 minutes.
Here are all our winners and losers from the match.
Winner: Cristiano Ronaldo
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Two games without scoring have been well and truly banished after the Portuguese No. 7 scored five at the weekend against Espanyol and then rattled in another hat-trick at the Bernabeu against Shakhtar.
Eight goals already this season—and 499 in his entire career, per Opta on Twitter.
The first spot-kick might not have been awarded with merit, but that's nothing to the player once he steps up to take the penalty. Both were finished with ease, and his predatory movement allowed him to react quickest and be in place to make the most of a rebound for yet another hat-trick.
Outstanding clinical play once again from Ronaldo.
Loser: Andriy Pyatov
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Goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov is a long-standing servant for both club and country, but that only means we've all seen him make these kinds of errors before. Lots of times.
The Shakhtar goalkeeper simply had to gather a routine ball into the box and it looked as though he had done so—only for the ball to suddenly spill out of his grasp, straight to the feet of Karim Benzema. Real have been tough to break down this term and that error from Pyatov simply gave his team a mountain to climb, totally needlessly.
He wasn't without blame on the fourth goal, either.
Winner: Keylor Navas
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At the other end of the pitch, Keylor Navas has now played four games, 360 minutes, as Real Madrid's first-choice goalkeeper.
He hasn't yet conceded a single goal, despite the uncertainty and apparent lack of appreciation for his talents from the club. That looks to be at an end now, though—Kiko Casilla isn't the "Champions League goalkeeper" for Real, it's Navas all the way judging by the team sheet.
That came under threat near the end of the game with a deflected error that looped over Navas' head, and 4-0 up with barely a minute to go, it wouldn't have been the end of the world if he had allowed it to creep in...but instead he reacted, made a fantastic save and kept a fourth successive clean sheet.
Loser: Gareth Bale
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Gareth Bale has looked excellent in the driving, attacking midfield role that Rafael Benitez has handed him, and his last two Liga performances have been extremely promising.
That is going to be on hold, though, after the Welshman was substituted in the first half with an apparent calf injury following a sprint through the centre. Bale won't want to miss too much; in the next three weeks or so, Real face matches including Athletic Bilbao, Malmo in the Champions League and the city derby against Atletico Madrid.
Also substituted suffering injuries during the game were centre-back pairing Raphael Varane and Sergio Ramos.
Winner: Rafa Benitez
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Rafael Benitez looks a happy man just now and no wonder: three wins in a row, 15 goals scored and none conceded in four competitive matches this season.
The Sporting Gijon 0-0 draw was a one-off, no doubt, but this was a fantastic start to the Champions League group stage—even if it came with a bit of a helping hand from Pyatov and the referee and his officiating team.
Benitez rotated his side at the weekend and went basically with his strongest XI on the night; injuries aside, he'll be pleased at the structure of the team and the comfortable way they dismantled Shakhtar in the second half.
One game down, five to go and his side are looking strong indeed.
