Real Madrid's blushes were spared with a late goal by Antonio Rudiger, but his reward was a brutal collision that left him with a head injury and forced him back to Madrid.
A nasty cut to the forehead forced the Germany defender to leave the field covered in blood and needing stitches.
Shakhtar were close to pulling off a famous victory when they were down by one goal with the game in added time.
The centre-back was waved up into the Shakhtar penalty area by his international teammate, knowing that the chances of a late goal were dependent on his aerial ability. The first chance of the game came in the 92nd minute, as a quarterback-like pass was launched into the box by Kroos.
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It seemed like Madrid's moment had passed. Three minutes after the carbon copy of the earlier move, Rudiger headed the ball into the net.
The defender was not given the chance to celebrate.
As Rudiger headed the ball goalward, Shakhtar's 21-year-old goalkeeper, Anatolii Trubin, ran off his line to try and reach the ball first. It was frightening.
Rudiger fell to his knees, bleeding profusely, after pushing away his teammates.
The Madrid player appeared to be in worse shape than the other player. He was helped off by medical staff after he couldn't see through one eye.
Antonio Rudiger took a shot as he collided with the keeper when scoring his last minute equalizer for Real Madrid. pic.twitter.com/4NGMxRbqzi
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) October 11, 2022
The focus of the game was on the health of Rudiger. Carlo Ancelotti was calm in his post match interview.
"He cut his forehead, it's quite a long cut, but he's okay, he wanted to come back on!" exclaimed the coach.
In his news conference, he said that he was being stitched up. He is happy to have scored.
I have seen better pictures. You could see a lot of blood on the pitch. Let's hope he comes back quickly.
He took to social media to assure fans that he was okay. "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!" the player said in a post, before adding an image to his story that showed him smiling while on the team's flight back to Madrid.
The caption said we were alive.
🛫 @ToniRuediger ya está en el avión 🤕 ¡Seguimos vivos!
📻 #PartidazoCOPE pic.twitter.com/GhRKIe3W0N
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