Real Madrid have secured a place in the eighth final of the Champions League. The LaLiga superpower won 0-3 against Sheriff Tiraspol on Wednesday evening and is therefore at the top of Group D, with twelve points from five games. Real converts together with Internazionale; because Inter has ten points, the group win is at stake in two weeks when both top clubs meet in the Santiago Bernabéu. Sheriff will finish third and enter the Europa League, while Shakhtar Donetsk finish bottom.
Real lost 1-2 to Sheriff at the end of September, but the team of coach Carlo Ancelotti wanted to make it clear that there was an incident. After the first half, the visitors were already leading 0-2. Sheriff’s danger was limited to a few hopeless shots, while Real struck through David Alaba and Toni Kroos. The center defender opened the score after half an hour from a free kick. Alaba was allowed to place just outside the penalty area and saw his effort violently changed by Cristiano, forcing keeper Georgios Athanasiadis to be unable to answer.
On the stroke of half-time, Kroos doubled the margin. After a nice attack from the right wing, set up by Luka Modric, Rodrygo and Vinícius Júnior, the midfielder pulled out from the edge of the penalty area. His clean shot resulted in a goal from the bottom of the bar; the goal-line technology showed that the ball had just crossed the line. Ten minutes after the break, Karim Benzema made it 0-3. After Ferland drew Mendy in from the left flank and served Benzema at the edge of the box, the attacker immediately found the left corner.
Deadly precision??
Tony Kroos curls the ball beautifully and goal line technology is needed to check if the goal is the line ??The German gave Real a 2-0 lead just before half-time ??#ZiggoSport #UCL #SHERMA pic.twitter.com/fNoFtq4112
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) Nov 24, 2021
Sheriff hoped to give the audience one more shot of honor. The home side became dangerous several times: Thibaut Courtois saved a shot from Adama Traoré from the bottom corner, saw Cristiano head against the post and Keston Julien prevented it from scoring. Nine minutes before the end, the ball from a free kick by Sheriff ended up in the hands of the keeper again. In the final phase, Real threatened a few times, but a goal was not forthcoming. However, Real won all away matches in the group stage of the Champions League for the first time since the 2014-15 season.
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