Real Madrid stunned in opening Champions League match against COVID stricken Shakhtar

Real Madrid CF is having a week that went from bad to worse. After losing their Spanish La Liga match against newly-promoted Cadiz over the weekend, they were stunned by Shakhtar Donetsk in their opening UEFA Champions League match on Wednesday.

It was a thrilling encounter with the Ukrainian side staging an upset against the 13-time UEFA Champions league winners. The match ended 2-3 in favour of the visiting side. Real Madrid got off to a slow start and Shakhtar managed to take the lead in just under 30 minutes. Their lead was doubled shortly after, thanks to an own goal by Madrid defender Raphael Varane.

The La Liga champions found themselves with a mountain to climb as Shakhtar scored another goal courtesy of Manor Solomon just before half-time. Trailing 0-3 at the restart, Real Madrid had to fire on all cylinders.

Things started looking up after a brilliant assist from Marcelo allowed Luka Modric to pull one back in the 54th minute. Then, Vinicius Jr. scored another goal for the hosts five minutes later. The Brazilian's goal was scored just 15 seconds after he came in as a substitute. According to the BBC, this is the fastest goal by a substitute in the Champions League since the 2006-07 season.

Unfortunately for Zidane's side, the display of brilliance ended there and no "remontada" was achieved. Real Madrid has officially lost their opening game in this season's competition. The blow is even harder knowing that Shakhtar Donetsk is not functioning at full capacity. The COVID-19 stricken team was forced to field youth team players after 13 first team players were sidelined by the disease. In total, there were 19 positive tests throughout the club's ranks. As a result, eight players who faced Real Madrid were under the age of 23.

Real Madrid knows that the back-to-back losses will draw criticism. They have a chance to redeem themselves this weekend, as they face FC Barcelona in this season's first El Clasico. The match is scheduled to be played on Saturday, October 24, at the Camp Nou.