real Madrid 4-1 Real Sociedad (Garcia, Vinicius Jr. x2 and Valverde). A great performance, matched to purpose… That was my first reaction to the big win. Get more: player ratings, interviews and post-game podcasts.
Real Sociedad are one of the biggest challenges yet for Alvaro Arbeloa and his Real Madrid side, who will be without the likes of Jude Bellingham and Rodrigo Gos. Gonzalo García gets the nod, even ahead of Kylian Mbappé, as he joins Vinícius Júnior in attack. Trent Alexander-Arnold returns, allowing Fede Valverde to move into midfield. Castilla’s best player of the season (so far) Cesar Palacios was called to the bench. Fede Valverde is the captain.
What should have been a challenge turned out to be the complete opposite when Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cross was cleverly tipped over the goalkeeper by Gonzalo Garcia. Dean Huizen then awarded a penalty, scored by Mikel Oriazabal, followed by a penalty from Vinicius Junior. At halftime, Valverde expanded the lead to 3-1.
In the second half, Vinicius Junior added another penalty kick to make the score 4-1. Sadly, this brought the game to an early end and, aside from Real Sociedad’s penalty shout, little of note happened over the next half hour. Real Madrid played well, though, with Trent Alexander-Arnold in particular earning a lot of praise upon his return to action. Real Sociedad had a goal disallowed with five minutes remaining, while Vinicius’ stoppage-time hat-trick was also disallowed. Full match: 4-1 Real Madrid, the team performed well. What are your thoughts?