A bald fraud hangs his head
In what ranks as one of the most remarkable results in Champions League history, Shakhtar beat Real Madrid 3-2 at the Bernabeu. This alone would be a hell of an upset, but the context makes it a near-miraculous result: due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Ukraine champions were missing ten first-team players. TEN! (They’ve also had 19 positive tests.)
Real were 3-0 down at half-time, and stunned, but improved in the second half and had a late equaliser ruled out by VAR for offside. Thankfully so, as a draw would have been unfair on the visitors, not to mention it would have robbed them of perhaps the most famous scoreline in their history.
The one positive for the Spanish giants was a fantastic goal from Luka Modric:
There was no stopping this Luka Modric effort.
Postage stamp. The goalkeeper didn't even move! 🎯 pic.twitter.com/37ZJKI8L9F
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) October 21, 2020
That’s two embarrassing home defeats in a row for Zinedine Zidane, first to Cadiz in La Liga, now to Shakhtar’s reserves. Much more of this and Mauricio Pochettino will be booking a one-way flight to Madrid.