Shakhtar Donetsk v Real Madrid.
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Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid looks on during the La Liga match between Sevilla FC and Real Madrid CF at Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan on November 8, 2015 in Seville, Spain.
Real Madrid can cement top spot in their Champions League group with a win away at Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday.
Atletico, the 2014 runners-up, needed only a draw to progress and their comfortable victory at the Calderon stadium put them level on 10 points at the top of the group with Benfica and ahead of the Portuguese club on goal difference. “He’s a great footballer and a fundamental player for us”, Benitez said, according to Marca.
Shakhtar rang the changes to try and reverse their fortunes but the procession continued in the 70th minute as Ronaldo bagged his brace, once again combining with Bale down the left flank.
Luis Enrique’s team has outscored opponents 18-1 in its last five games, while Neymar and Luis Suarez lead the league with 12 and 11 goals, respectively. Benitez denied that something had gone wrong structurally with his team. With 4-0 you can think the game is done. “But we must know how to manage those moments, after we conceded, that’s something we must manage better”.
“Those today were avoidable”. We must give merit to [Shakhtar].
“The important thing was to be a team, for everyone to attack and defender together, and we did that apart, apart from in the last half-hour”.
Rafael Benitez: “Reacting the way the team did after the game against Barcelona and going 4-0 up in the Champions League [against Shakhtar Donetsk] is really positive”.
Ronaldo enjoyed a good relationship with Benitez’s predecessor, Carlo Ancelotti.
“With the case of Cristiano, we have said many times there is a strategy for him to go to another club next season”, he said.
The contest for a Europa League place, by finishing third, will be between Shakhtar – which is away to PSG in their final game – and Malmo, which plays Madrid in Spain. “Those who were on the pitch did sensationally well”.
However, Madrid doubled their lead in the second half on the counter as Ronaldo raided down the right before he found the run of Modric in the box for the midfielder to slam his strike past Pyatov. It’s down to us, and over the remainder of the season we want to bounce back.
Varane’s injury is more bad news for the coach, Rafa Benítez, whose captain and centre-back Sergio Ramos, who sat out the Shakhtar match, is also struggling with a shoulder problem.
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Benitez admitted he was “hurt” by the result on Saturday.
