Shakhtar team depleted by coronavirus stuns Real Madrid 3-2

The celebrations by Shakhtar Donetsk players echoed loudly around the empty Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium.

Some yelled, others raised their arms, and a few hugged each other after the final whistle was blown in Madrid.

It wasn’t just another victory for the Ukrainian side.

A Shakhtar team depleted by coronavirus cases handed Real Madrid a shocking 3-2 home loss in Group B of the Champions League on Wednesday.

Playing with only a few regular starters, Shakhtar took advantage of counterattacks to open up a 3-0 first-half lead, and then held on after Madrid pulled closer with two goals shortly after the break.

“It’s a great result for us,” Shakhtar coach Luis Castro said. “We knew what difficulties we could expect and planned our strategy accordingly. The players have done everything absolutely fantastically. We were a united team from the first until the last minute.”

Madrid thought it had equalized in injury time through Federico Valverde, but the goal was disallowed for offside after video review.

“It was a bad match, a tough night,” Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said. “I'm bothered by what happened and I'm the responsible for it. The team didn't perform like I wanted and that's my fault.”

The Ukrainian side opened the scoring through Tetê in the 29th minute and added to the lead with an own goal by Madrid defender Raphael Varane in the 33rd. Manor Solomon then added the third in the 42nd.

Madrid fought back with a long-range shot by Luka Modric in the 54th and a goal by Vinícius Júnior in the 59th, seconds after he came on as a substitute.

“When the score was 3-2, we had to defend even more and thought, ‘Oh, let this game end as soon as possible,’” Castro said. “Overall, we showed our quality in terms of tactics and skill.”

Inter Milan hosted Borussia Mönchengladbach in the other group match later Wednesday.

Shakhtar arrived in Spain without several key players who were not fully fit after going into isolation because of positive COVID-19 tests. Seven regular starters and a couple of first-choice substitutes were absent, and Castro had to call up seven players from the “B” team.

Zidane was without some players because of injury, including captain Sergio Ramos and right back Dani Carvajal, and he made several changes to the starting lineup ahead of the Spanish league “clásico” against Barcelona on Saturday. Toni Kroos and Karim Benzema were among those who started on the bench.

“We didn’t get off to a good start. I think we lacked confidence,” Madrid midfielder Luka Modric said. “We improved in the second half, but it wasn’t enough. We have to move on, the next match is coming up soon and we can’t lose time lamenting.”

It was the second consecutive home loss for Madrid, which on Saturday was beaten 1-0 by promoted Cádiz in the Spanish league.

The team was ineffective from the start on Wednesday, unable to get near the Shakhtar goal. The visitors, meanwhile, threatened often and squandered several other scoring chances. Marlos had a goal disallowed for offside in the 80th.

The game was played at the 6,000-capacity Alfredo Di Stéfano at Madrid’s training center because the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium remains under renovation while fans are not allowed into matches because of the coronavirus pandemic.

A 13-time Champions League winner, Madrid was eliminated in the round of 16 in the last two seasons.

Fading power

Since Real Madrid’s last Champions League title in 2018, the club and president Florentino Perez have been linked with plans to create more elitist competitions that would avoid facing so many lower-ranked teams from countries like Ukraine.

Shakhtar is a group-stage regular and moved on to the Europa League semifinals in August, though was missing several of its Brazilian contingent against Madrid.

Goals from Tetê and Manor Solomon either side of an own goal by Madrid defender Raphael Varane came in a 13-minute spell before halftime.

Madrid hit back with Luka Modric’s long-range shot in the 54th and minutes later substitute Vinícius Júnior, who entered and ran direct from the touchline to steal possession and score.

Madrid has now won just one of its last seven home games in the Champions League, including a 2-1 first-leg loss to Manchester City in the round of 16 in February.

This one was played at Madrid’s empty training ground while the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium is renovated.

Also in Group B, an Inter team also affected by a virus outbreak, drew 2-2 with Mönchengladbach.

After a goalless first half, Lukaku scored early and late in the second for last season’s Europa League runner-up. Mönchengladbach had taken a 2-1 lead when Jonas Hoffman’s goal in the 84th was confirmed after a video review lasting several minutes.

Bayern surges

The champion in Lisbon two months ago, Bayern carried over its dominant European form in a 4-0 dismantling of Atlético. Kingsley Coman, scorer of the title-winning goal against Paris Saint-Germain, netted twice.

The game went ahead after a further round of testing of Bayern players on Wednesday, one day after forward Serge Gnabry’s COVID-19 infection was revealed.

Also in Group A, Salzburg was held 2-2 at home by Lokomotiv Moscow.

English wins

Man City started a competition it was originally banned from by UEFA with a 3-1 win at home Porto.

City trailed early, then leveled from Sergio Aguero’s penalty kick awarded for a foul against Porto’s veteran captain Pepe. Ilkay Gundogan and Ferran Torres secured the win midway through the second half.

Liverpool and Ajax have a combined 10 European titles yet had not faced each other in Amsterdam since 1966.

A 1-0 win for Liverpool was decided by Sadio Mane’s shot in the 35th forcing an own goal from defender Nicolás Tagliafico.

The English champion handled the absence of injured Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk, and some anxious moments with back-up goalkeeper Adrian.

Liverpool moved midfielder Fabinho into central defense and he made a spectacular goal-line clearance to deny Dusan Tadic.

Few fans

A fresh wave of the pandemic across Europe meant storied clubs Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Ajax, Manchester City and Olympiakos could not let fans in their stadiums.

Midtjylland recorded an attendance of 132 for its Champions League group-stage debut.

Salzburg had 3,000 fans in attendance and Inter had just 1,000 to abide by event limits in Italy.