By Sedara Oluwadara
Real Madrid established a stranglehold at the top of their Champions League group with a 2-1 win over Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday, which should have been far more emphatic.
Carlo Ancelotti’s reigning champions have a 100 percent record in the competition and made light work of their Ukrainian opponents, who had to travel 10 hours to get to Madrid because of the war in their homeland.
Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior’s goals made the difference but the record 14-time winners were dominant and only profligate finishing — and fine goalkeeping from Anatoliy Trubin — stopped them from racking up a big lead.
After three games Madrid have a five-point lead on second-placed Shakhtar, with RB Leipzig, third, beating Celtic 3-1 in the other Group F match.
Karim Benzema led the line again on his second match back after injury and although he was still rusty, it didn’t matter on a mostly comfortable evening.
