Defiant Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane insists he can turn around Spanish champions fortunes after 0-2 loss to Shakhtar Donetsk leaves pre-quarterfinal hopes hanging by a thread
Shakhtar Donetsku00c3u00a2u00c2u0080u00c2u0099s Manor Solomon (centre) celebrates scoring against Real Madrid during their UEFA Champions League match on Tuesday. Pic/Getty Images
UEFA champions league
Zinedine Zidane rubbished suggestions he could walk away from Real Madrid and said the Spanish giants did not deserve to lose after going down 0-2 to Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday, their second defeat by the Ukrainians in this season's Champions League leaving their hopes of reaching the Last 16 in the balance.
Zinedine Zidane
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Shakhtar's super subs
Substitutes Dentinho and Manor Solomon both scored second-half goals in Kiev as Shakhtar stunned the 13-time European champions again, having already won 3-2 in Madrid in October.
Shakhtar had lost their last two Group B matches against Borussia Moenchengladbach by an aggregate score of 0-10, but this victory allowed them to move above Real into second place in the group with one game remaining. Gladbach top the section by a point, while Shakhtar now have the upper hand on Real thanks to their superior head-to-head record.
Madrid have made it out of their group in every year since 1997 and so failure to qualify would be seen as a disaster, but Zidane said he would not leave the club. "I am not going to resign, not at all," said Zidane. "We are always going to have difficult moments, and we are on a bad run, but we need to keep going. I have the strength needed to turn the situation around and I am going to give everything to do that, so are the players," added the Frenchman. "We played well and we deserved more. We just need to lift our heads up and think about the next game."
Real miss Ramos
The result further underlined how much they miss defensive talisman Sergio Ramos when he is not there. This was Real's seventh defeat in the last nine Champions League matches they have played without Ramos, who is currently injured.
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