Real Madrid 4-0 Shakhtar Donetsk: Five talking points

#2 Real Madrid fail to inspire

It was supposed to be a walk in the park for Real Madrid. While the scoreline suggests they sure did, in all honesty it wasn’t. The home side played unconvincingly for much of the time and wasted way too many opportunities.

Los Blancos stuttered to break down a stubborn defence of the Miners and could find the breakthrough only when Pyatov inadvertently squandered the ball for Benzema to tap in into an empty net. Gareth Bale hobbled off with a calf injury consequently, but Real continued to create chances, only to waste them one after another.

Not much had changed in their game even in the second half as, despite dominating possession, the 2014 champions toiled to extend their lead and did so only after Ronaldo showed great nonchalance in taking two penalties. The only real moment to savour for the home crowd was the Portuguese international netting another treble when he latched on to Marcelo’s shot that ricocheted off Pyatov’s palms.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad evening for the title contenders. But at the same time, it wasn’t an encouraging one either.