Shakhtar Donetsk 3 Real Madrid 4: UEFA Champions League report

Real’s all-time record goal scorer has been consistently linked with Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain amid rumours that he is unhappy playing under Benitez.

Shakhtar, weakened by the absence of regular captain Dario Srna and full-back Alexander Kucher, who were both suspended, needed to win to have any chance of creeping into the last 16.

However, Benitez denied he had any issues with the three-time Ballon d’Or victor before Real’s Champions League clash against Shakhtar Donetsk.

“No, absolutely not”, Benitez said.

Madrid’s most disgruntled supporters waved white handkerchiefs to demand the removal of Benitez and shouted for club president Florentino Perez to step down.

Ronaldo opened the scoring with an 18th-minute header into the empty net after some smart play from Gareth Bale, who evaded Yaroslav Rakitskiy and flicked the ball over goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov to give the Portugal forward an easy finish.

The tough defeat versus Blaugrana in La Liga was also the second consecutive for Los Blancos in league play as they also lost to Sevilla 3-2 beforehand. “I’m confident that two defeats won’t change all the good that was done before”, he said. The home fans were waving their infamous white hankies as early as half time, and the final 4-0 scoreline was seen as nothing short of a disaster in the Spanish capital. “I want to take away the positive aspects and we will analyze the mistakes we made”.

Meanwhile problems continue to mount up for striker Karim Benzema after Mathieu Valbuena attacked the Madrid striker for his alleged role in an attempted sex-tape blackmail against him. If they didn’t we wouldn’t have gone 14 games unbeaten.

Messi scored twice and provided an assist for Gerard Pique in a thumping 6-1 victory which has guaranteed top seed status for the reigning champions in the Champions League knockout stages. Let us know in the comments section below. Surely game over now for the 2014 European Champions.

“We’re in November and our objectives remain the same”.

Benitez admitted he was “hurt” by the result on Saturday. I don’t like to lose against Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu. “We need to have all our players ready to go out on the pitch”.

“I will do the best possible job for the fans”. Fred made a nice defensive stop on Isco in the 68th minute, did excellent to stop Real Madrid’s counter by stopping Isco in his track.

“The team is working hard on all levels, this is without doubt”. We have to focus on the daily work, the future. “We are confident that he can turn things around”.