Real Madrid 2-1 Shakhtar Donetsk: Player ratings as Benzema brace secures victory

Karim Benzema and Vinicius Junior combined for two goals as Real Madrid secured an important 2-1 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday night.

The result moved Los Blancos to top spot in Champions League Group D with Inter and Sheriff still to play, and also kept qualification to the knockout stages in their hands.

Real started strongly and Luka Modric should have put them ahead inside five minutes. The Croatian combined intelligently with Lucas Vazquez to carve open the Shakhtar defence, but he could only fire a tame effort at Anatolli Trubin.

Soon after Los Blancos did make it 1-0 through Karim Benzema. Vinicius Junior capitalised on Marlon's dordling on the ball, stealing it away before squaring to his partner in crime to tap home. The goal was Real's 1,000th in the European Cup, making them the first side to reach the milestone.

After this flying start the hosts fell away, allowing Shakhtar to grow into the game and they grabbed an equaliser just before the interval. Fernando was the scorer, lashing home Alan Patrick's sumptuous chest-down minutes after missing a golden opportunity.

He could have had another in the closing stages of the first half too, with Thibaut Courtois saving well from inside the box.

Real were slow out the blocks in the second period but eventually woke up and poked their noses in front with a free-flowing move. Vini Jr played a neat one-two with Casemiro before offloading to an unmarked Benzema, who made no mistake.

Shakhtar did not make life easy for the home side for the remainder of the contest, with Taras Stepanenko firing over from distance and Georgiy Sudakov forcing a decent stop out of Courtois. In the end though, Real would hold on to secure the three points.

Here is how Carlo Ancelotti's charges rated...

1. Goalkeeper & defenders

Thibaut Courtois (GK) - 7/10 - Made several big saves when the visitors were threatening at the end of the first half and at the death.

Dani Carvajal (RB) - 5/10 - Recently claimed he was fully fit following his injury troubles. On the evidence of this display, he needs to take a lie detector test.

Eder Militao (CB) - 4/10 - Caught ball-watching for the opening goal and ended up about 10 yards out of position. Rancid stuff.

David Alaba (CB) - 5/10 - More competent than his partner - which is not the greatest compliment.

Ferland Mendy (LB) - 5/10 - Selected over Marcelo but did not have a particularly eventful night. Booked.

2. Midfielders

Toni Kroos (CM) - 5/10 - Shakhtar shackled him effectively for most of the game. Needed to do more to influence the game. Mykhailo Mudryk outshone him in the middle of the park.

Casemiro (CM) - 6/10 - A couple of interventions but still looks far from his best off the ball. Again, Shakhtar did well to deny him the ball at times. Fine backheel in the build-up to the second goal.

Luka Modric (CM) - 5/10 - Wasteful in front of goal. The chance he missed early on had an xG value of 0.39, but it looked an even easier opportunity than that. Picked up some nice positions, but final ball was lacking.

3. Forwards

Lucas Vazquez (RW) - 7/10 - Applied himself more than Eden Hazard would have done...probably. A couple of impressive runs and would have had an assist if Modric had brought his shooting boots.

Karim Benzema (ST) - 8/10 - Influential in build-up play and scored a brace. A real shame that he probably won't even make the Ballon d'Or podium this year.

Vinicius Junior (LW) - 8/10 - Created the opener with his quick thinking and merciless pressing. The architect of the second too. A really special talent.

4. Substitutes

Nacho (CB) - 6/10 - Facilitated Real's switch to a back three, which helped them see the game out.

Luka Jovic (ST) - N/A - His rating is also an apt description of his Real career so far.

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