Immediate Reaction: Real Madrid 4-1 Real Sociedad

Real Madrid 4-1 Real Sociedad (García, Vinícius Júnior x2 & Valverde). A great performance with goals to match… This is my immediate reaction to the big win. Get more: Player ratings, interviews and a post game podcast.

Real Sociedad presented one of the biggest challenges so far Álvaro Arbeloa and his Real Madrid side, and the team would be without the likes of Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo Goes. Gonzalo García would get the nod, ahead of even Kylian Mbappé, as he was joined by Vinícius Júnior in attack. Trent Alexander-Arnold was back, allowing Fede Valverde into the midfield. Castilla player of the season (so far) Cesár Palacios was called into the bench. Fede Valverde was the captain.

What should have been a challenge became quite the opposite, when Gonzalo García delicately poked the ball past the keeper after a superb Trent Alexander-Arnold cross picked him out. Dean Huijsen then gave away a penalty, which was scored by Mikel Oryazabal – before Vinícius Júnior scored one of his own moments later. Fede Valverde then extended the lead to make it 3-1 come half-time.

Vinícius Júnior got the second half going with another penalty kick, scoring to make it 4-1 and add another to his tally. This sadly put the game to bed early, and other than a penalty shout for Sociedad – little happened of note for the next half an hour. Madrid were playing well, though – and Trent Alexander-Arnold in-particular was earning a lot of plaudits on his return to action. Real Sociedad had a goal disallowed with five minutes left to play, before Vinícius was denied his hat-trick with a disallowed goal of his own in added time. Full-time: 4-1 to Real Madrid, and a great performance from the team. What are your thoughts?