Yet they somehow managed to pull off a 3-2 win on Wednesday - their first victory over the La Liga giants and the first recorded by a Ukrainian side since Dynamo Kiev 21 years ago - leaving Real coach Zinedine Zidane a anxious man.
Club president Perez saw that first hand, as he stopped by to see the players following their second defeat in a row.
In spite of missing a few first-team players because of positive Covid tests, Shakhtar went insane in the opening half of the Group B conflict in Madrid, with their three goals coming in the space of 13 minutes.
Zinedine Zidane's side were embarrassingly 3-0 down at half-time to the Ukrainian outfit, before eventually pulling two goals back in the second-half. "It's my job to find solutions because these kind of games can't happen".
Madrid were 3-0 down at half time, with goals from Tete and Manor Solomon along with a Raphael Varane own goal.
Shakhtar thought they had held out, then had their hopes seemingly shattered as Federico Valverde scored an apparent equaliser in extra-time.
Los Blancos began their campaign this season with a home loss to Shakhtar Donetsk.
Barcelona suffered a disappointing league defeat themselves last Saturday, but they were back to winning ways in the Champions League on Tuesday night, seeing off Ferencvaros 5-1 in a performance that will give them confidence ahead of their encounter with their great rivals.
"We have not entered the game well and then we improved a lot, but it was not enough to reverse the situation".
"We weren't good enough", rued Modric.
Zidane said after the Shakhtar match, "I am the one responsible". We lacked confidence today in everything we did in the first half.
"For the next game, we have to be together, trust in ourselves and in our quality".
The newly introduced player went on to beat the keeper and make it 2-3, giving Madrid a fighting chance with 30 minutes left on the clock. The manager has said to us that we have to press more effectively.
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