Historic goal Toni Kroos crowns Real Madrid the best

Tuesday, December 7, 2021 at 10:53 PM• Tom Rofekamp • Last update: 23:01

Real Madrid crowned themselves the winner of Group D in the Champions League on Tuesday. In an entertaining duel with pursuer Internazionale drew the Royal finally at the longest end: 2-0. The opening goal of Toni Kroos marked the thousandth of the Madrilenians in the history of the Champions League and the former European Cup. At the bottom of the group, Shakhtar Donetsk failed to save the honor in the final phase against revelation Sheriff Tiraspol: 1-1.

Real Madrid – Inter Milan 2-0
The stake in the Santiago Bernabéu was the group win and the hosts had to do without their injured top scorer Karim Benzema. The Frenchman was responsible for five of the twelve goals in the group stage of the Champions League, so it had to come from someone else against Internazionale. Kroos became that one. After more than fifteen minutes of play, the German received the ball from Rodrygo’s side and shot hard and low past Samir Handanovic with the left. It was against the relationship. Inter was the better side throughout the match and continued that dominance despite the goal against. Ivan Perisic in particular gave the Madrid defense a lot of headaches. However, the home side also had great opportunities. Occasional striker Luka Jovic hit the side net after 36 minutes from a good pass by Dani Carvajal; Rodrygo hit the post from the edge of the sixteen-meter area.

The duel could use a breather; immediately after the whistle for the second half, the visitors started attacking again. Nicolò Barella already saw his attempt fly in, but the leather ended his trajectory just above Thibaut Courtois’s goal. After that, Real Madrid came into the game better. The visitors were overcome by the pressure and in the 64th minute Barella lost his temper. The midfielder went completely crazy after a shoulder push from Eder Militao; he hit the Brazilian in the face and was immediately allowed to shower from referee Felix Brych. With that, Inter’s resistance was broken. Ten minutes before the end, substitute Marco Asensio doubled the margin with a great bang in the intersection. Denzel Dumfries played the first 45 minutes at Inter; Stefan de Vrij remained on the bench for the entire match.

Shakhtar Donetsk – Sheriff Tiraspol 1-1
At the bottom of Group D, the cards had already been distributed; especially for the home side, the game was an opportunity to save the honour. Manor Solomon was close by early on in that context. After eight minutes of play, the Israeli launched a fine shot from the left, which narrowly sailed over. Sheriff didn’t make a fist and it was a miracle that the Moldovans hadn’t been beaten after half an hour of play. Dodo aimed just wide of Georgios Athanasiadis’ goal and again Solomon found the post in his way this time. Sheriff got no further than a mediocre volley from Cristiano, before the Ukrainians finally opened the score in the 42nd minute.

A neat pass by Serhiy Kryvtskov was cleverly taken in the turn by Fernando and the Brazilian tapped in the far corner 1-0. The pace was much slower in the second half. Shakhtar was still the better party; Sheriff mainly relied on counters. Adama Traoré came close to equalizing fifteen minutes before the end with a header, but the three points seemed to remain in Ukraine. In stoppage time, however, Boban Nikolov decided otherwise. In the rebound of his own attempt, he still shot the 1-1 against the ropes. Shakhtar Donetsk therefore ends with only two points below Group D; Sheriff Tiraspol finishes in seven and continues in the Europa League.