Real Madrid's coach Rafael Benitez smiles before the start of their Champions League Group A soccer match against Shakhtar Donetsk at Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, September 15, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

NOT BRILLIANT

"Without playing a brilliant match we still created a lot of chances," Benitez told a news conference.

"I am very pleased to have taken those we did and not to have conceded a goal again," he added.

Real, the record 10-times European Cup winners and 2014 champions, several times went close in the early stages with Bale almost scoring with a clever flick through his legs from Dani Carvajal's cross in the 13th minute.

Shakhtar were holding their own reasonably well without troubling Real keeper Keylor Navas until Pyatov came out to gather and fumbled the ball straight to Benzema.

The France striker, who missed two other easy chances, cracked the ball into the empty net for his 43rd Champions League goal.

Shakhtar's best chance came in added time when Navas tipped a deflected Alex Teixeira shot over the bar.