MADRID: Real Madrid suffered their heaviest ever home defeat in Europe on Wednesday when the already-qualified Spaniards were thumped 3-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu by CSKA Moscow in the Champions League. The Russian side’s remarkable victory, however, was still not enough to secure them a spot in the Europa League as they were pipped to third place in Group G by Viktoria Plzen. Feder Chalov put CSKA in front against the group winners and triple Champions League holders with a curling shot in the 37th minute and Georgi Shchennikov doubled the visitors’ advantage two minutes before halftime with a scrappy volley on the rebound. Iceland international Arnor Sigurdsson struck a remarkable third goal for the Russians in the 73rd minute, completing an unlikely second victory for CSKA over Madrid in this Champions League campaign and provoking loud boos and whistles from the unhappy home supporters. CSKA’s only two wins in the competition this season have come against the 13-times winners and they finished bottom of the group on seven points due to their inferior head-to-head record against Plzen, who beat AS Roma 2-1.Real, who were already guaranteed top spot, remained on 12 points while Roma, who had clinched second place in the group, ended on nine. Published in Daily Times, December 14th 2018.