Cristiano Ronaldo nets brace, Real Madrid top Shakhtar to win Group A

Real responded well to their humiliating defeat to Barcelona on Saturday as they surged into a 4-0 lead in Lviv.

Another setback could mean the end of the line for the coach, no matter what the president says. “We got the win and the three points”, he told the official Madrid website.

“Right now I’m with Castilla”.

“I am coach of Castilla (the reserves) and Benitez of the first team”. “I still have a long way to go”.

There have been some reports that Fabio Capello, now out a job, could be the next in line.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Rafael Benitez will not be at Real Madrid next season, according to Sky Sports’ Spanish football expert Guillem Balague.

“Rather than analysing the game, which of course we will do, what matters most now is lifting the group’s spirits quickly and getting everyone to see the importance of the upcoming fixtures”, Benitez said after the loss at the Bernabeu.

“We needed to increase the competitiveness [in the squad]”.

“It’s a hard one to top at the moment”, said Kenny, who also tipped the Romario-Stoijkov-Laudrup trio at Barca in the 1990s. Madrid had been leading the league and were winning games easily despite a series of injuries to their regular starters.

Manchester United will need to win their final Group B match to be sure of qualfication to the Champions League’s round-of-16 after a wasteful goalless draw against PSV Eindhoven.

Benitez added: “These two defeats don’t change the sensation that we have in the team – that we are learning and growing”.

The Germans of Wolfsburg now top the group courtesy of a 2-0 away win at CSKA Moscow who are eliminated.

It was business as usual for Real Madrid when Cristiano Ronaldo scored their opener in the 18th minute, although Shakhtar avoided conceding any further goals for the remainder of the first half.

Hours before kick-off, the Daily Mail’s Rob Draper reported that Rafa Benitez had held a meeting with Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, James Rodriguez and Karim Benzema, among others, to clear the air and set in stone a tactical model the team would understand and use. “We are confident that he can turn things around”. “And I think it will be unfair as given the chance, time and confidence, then he can improve pretty much any side in the world, as he showed with many teams in the past”.

There is discontentment among the club’s fans with the Spaniard’s defensively-minded style of play.