One of the most successful sides in Champions League, Real Madrid start their 2020-21 UEFA Champions Leauge campaign with a home match against Shakhtar Donetsk in Group B.
Match Prediction: Oct 21, 10:25 PM
Team Preview
La Liga Champions Madrid takes on Ukrain Champions Shakhtar Donetsk in their opening game of the UEFA Champions League 2020-21. Los Blancos has been a consistent side in the history of Champions League. From 2016 to 2018, they won the title for the consecutive three years. In the last two editions, they were knocked out from the competition in the last-16 stage. They won the La Liga title after three years in 2020 which was more than enough after a poor show in Champions League. Spanish Club suffered a shocking defeat in La Liga at the previous weekend against the newly-promoted Cadiz at home.
Zinedine Zidane's played a goalless draw with Real Sociedad in their opening league and added three back-to-back wins. Meanwhile, Shakhtar won the domestic title for the fourth successive years but their start to the new campaign is not so effective, playing three draws out of six games. The Miners are four points behind to their domestic rival Dynamo. Madrid haven’t lost in their previous eight matches to Ukrainian opponent and also won both games against Shakhtar in the 2015-16 group stage. The group also has Inter Milan and Borussia Monchengladbach so both teams would try to gain points from this game.
Current Form & Possible Lineups
Real Madrid
Lineup: Courtois; Nacho, Varane, Militao, Mendy; Valverde, Casemiro, Kroos; Rodrygo, Jovic, Vinicius
All competition form – D W W W L
Shakhtar Donetsk
Lineup: Trubin; Dodo, Khocholava, Bondar, Korniienko; Maycon, Patrick; Marlos, Kovalenko, Taison; Dentinho
All competition form – L D D W D W
Key Players
Real Madrid
Rodrygo
1 goal in Copa del Rey
Vinicius Junior
2 goals in La Liga 2020-21
Shakhtar
Kovalenko
4 goals in Ukrainian Premier League 2020-21
Marcos Antonio
1 goal & 2 assists in Ukrainian Premier League 2020-21
