Five days before the classic, Madrid was about to suffer the first defeat of the season, but saved a point against Shakhtar by tying the match in the last minute of added time with a header from Rüdiger, who headed off a spin from the goalkeeper Trubin and had to leave the field of play bleeding profusely from the head, in an image of football from another time. The tie mathematically classifies the Whites for the round of 16 with two games to go. Now he has to fight for first place.
Result aside, the whites gave bad signals, perhaps at the worst time. Nothing worked for Carlo Ancelotti’s improvised eleven, who ended up having to remove the players he intended to rest.
Benzema’s return to eleven did not compensate for the absence of Vinícius, right now the most unbalanced footballer and whom the coach put on the bench for the first time so far this season. Benzema is not fine and it is still difficult for him to see the door.
Madrid chewed the game a lot, but without giving it speed. Hazard returned to ownership but did not contribute anything at all. Right now it is a problem for Ancelotti. Rodrygo played from a band and for once he didn’t have his night in a competition that he loves.
Madrid also found themselves with a Shakhtar that was very different from the one at the Bernabeu. So the Ukrainian team played happily and Madrid sewed them up sometimes because they found many spaces.
In Legia’s field, Shakhtar were a more compact team, dedicated to defending and entrusting their attack to Mudryk, a winger with good dribbling and speed. The Whites hardly suffered defensively in the first half, with Rüdiger commanding respect, well accompanied by Nacho, but during the first half they also did little to disturb Trubin’s goal, effective in resolving a couple of long shots.
The second half could not have started worse for Madrid. After 30 seconds, a long cross from Mudryk was not well defended by Mendy and Zubkov, the man who had already scored at the Bernabeu, headed the ball into the Lunin net.
Ancelotti stopped thinking about the classic and ordered Vinícius and Modric to warm up immediately, who came on in the 55th minute, even though they spent six minutes on the sideline waiting for the ball to come out. Tchouaméni and Hazard were substituted. Madrid went on to attack with everything but Shakhtar found cons and Traoré was able to score the second. Lunin prevented it first and then the forward sent the ball to the crossbar in a second shot.
The following was a triple change: Camavinga, Asensio and Alaba. Madrid went on the attack, had a couple of chances and found Rüdiger’s goal at the buzzer, who literally broke his face on the play. The point is golden because it classifies Madrid, but it does not wash away its bad image,
