The White House falters.
And the fire is smoldering.
Real Madrid complicated their chances of qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League by losing 2-0 to Shakhtar Donetsk in Kiev on Tuesday.
One day from the end of the group stage, Zinédine Zidane's men drop to third place in Group B, overtaken by their Ukrainian opponent.
Already winner of Real 3-2, in the first leg after leading 3-0 at half-time, Shakhtar repeated his feat thanks to goals from the Brazilian Dentinho (57th) and the Israeli Manor Solomon (83rd) .
He is now ahead of the goal difference club Merengue, forced to win qualification against Mönchengladbach, leader of the group, on the last day.
Real too limited, Zidane with almost no solution on the bench
Despite the return of Karim Benzema, absent in Saturday's defeat against Alavés (2-1), Real Madrid has again sunk.
“We can't change the dynamic within the same match.
That bothers me, "ZZ" worried on Saturday.
The same scenario happened again on Tuesday.
Rather domineering at first, Real relied on Benzema, the only one capable of making the difference and close twice to offer the opener to a teammate.
But Marco Asensio sent his center millimeter on the post (5th) and Nacho did not cut his head enough (51st).
As for KB9's strikes, they were on the Donetsk goalkeeper (11th) or crushed (50th).
Maintained in the match by Real, the Ukrainians ended up finding the loophole.
The interception attempt on the part of Ferland Mendy with a strong pass from Ukrainian playmaker Victor Kovalenko turned into a perfect handover for Dentinho, clinic against Thibaut Courtois (57th).
Led, the Madrilenians plunged and confirmed the concerns displayed by Zidane on Saturday.
The Israeli Manor Solomon took advantage of Madrid's defensive apathy - between a Dani Carvajal on the retreat and a Raphaël Varane too wait-and-see - to break with a powerful strike at the near post (83 ').
A decisive shock against Mönchengladbach now awaits Real Madrid in a week.
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