Having failed to do so twice, Real Madrid finally managed to book their first victory away from home in the 2024/25 La Liga season, beating Real Sociedad at the Anoeta 0-2.
Both goals were scored from the penalty spot, the first by Vinicius Junior in the 58th minute, and the second by Kylian Mbappe in the 75th.
The teams
Imanol Alguacil in the home dugout arranged his team in a 4-5-1 formation. The back four, in front of goalkeeper Alex Remiro, consisted of Jon Aramburu, Igor Zubeldia, Nayef Aguerd and Javi Lopez. Martin Zubimendi was the central figure in midfield, with Sergio Gomez and Luka Sucic tasked with more creative roles in the middle of the park. Former Real Madrid man Tafekusa Kubo played wide on the right, and Sheraldo Becker covered the left flank. With Mikel Oyarzabal not fully fit, Umar Sadiq was chosen to be the lone striker.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti had several notable injury issues to work around, and went with the 4-2-3-1 shape. With Thibaut Courtois in goal, centre-backs Eder Militao and Antonio Rudiger were flanked by Ferland Mendy and Dani Carvajal. With no Aurelien Tchouameni, Eduaro Camavinga or Jude Bellingham, the midfield base was covered by the pair of Luka Modric and Federico Valverde, while Arda Guler played as the No. 1o, flanked by Vinicius and Brahim Diaz. The man closest to the opposition goal was, of course, Mbappe.
The game
Alguacil’s tactical ideas seemed to be producing good results throughout the first half. The visitors were held at bay by Sociedad’s numbers in the middle of the pitch, and only the individual brilliance of Madrid’s attackers occasionally brought a flicker of danger for Remiro.
On the other hand, Sociedad posed all sorts of problems for Madrid at the other end. Courtois and his defenders were kept very busy indeed. Sucic almost caught the Belgian goalkeeper napping with a cunningly taken free-kick early on, and later his powerful effort actually had Courtois beaten, before slamming onto the post. Becker came even closer to scoring for Sociedad, also beating Courtois but hitting the crossbar. It took Sucic only 20 seconds into the second half to hit the post again, and Real Madrid will be considering themselves very lucky to have remained level at that point.
But then came that fateful moment when Arda Guler, whose vast talent was clear to see even with his team not creating much, let one fly from range and hit the raised hands of Sergio Gomez. The former Manchester City left-back may have thought only to protect his face, but the arms were raised with the obvious intention of blocking the path of the shot, and referee Juan Martinez looked quite confident in his decision as he blew the whistle and pointed to the spot. Vinicius stepped up and scored, despite Remiro going the right way.
Frustration gradually crept into the Sociedad players, and they looked less able to hurt their opponents by the minute. Madrid spent more and more time in and around the home side’s box, and eventually, Aramburu was judged to have fouled Vinicius inside the box after an intervention from the VAR. This time it was Mbappe who dispatched the spot-kick in the 75th minute, sealing the victory for the 15-time European champions, as it happened.
The penalties
The first penalty Martinez awarded to Madrid cannot be disputed with any reasonable argument. Gomez’s hands were raised to block the path of the ball and the situation had all the symptoms of a deliberate handball.
However, the second penalty, which needed the VAR to step in as Martinez initially appeared to have missed it, is rather debatable. There was contact and it was inside the box, but it was minimal and happened after Vinicius had already released the ball, passing towards his teammates, making no impact whatsoever on the attack itself.
It cannot be described as an outright mistake by the VAR and eventually Martinez, but it will give fuel to the rather realistic claims that Real Madrid get decisions in La Liga which almost all other teams in the Spanish top flight do not.
Vinicius Junior – Quality and controversy
With the likes of Sergio Ramos and Pepe rightly counted among their numerous legends, Real Madrid having top-class but controversial players in their ranks comes as a natural way of things. Looking at the lineup that started this game, centre-backs Militao and Rudiger, as well as right-back Dani Carvajal, aren’t exactly known for a fair-play approach to the game. However, the neutral spectators, quite apart from the home crowd at the Anoeta, will have been disappointed with the behaviour of Vinicius.
First of all, the Brazilian winger is obviously a world-class player, surely among the best on the planet at the moment, and his nomination for the Ballon d’Or this year is fully deserved. But his attitude and the level of respect for his opponents often leave a lot to be desired.
There was a moment, with the game still goalless, when he hit Tafekusa Kubo from behind completely needlessly. The ball was nowhere near the pair of them at the moment, and Vinicus’ action was obviously directed towards simply provoking the Japan international. Vinicius obviously got away with it, as the referee wasn’t looking that way and the VAR likely judged there was no grounds for them to intervene. To Kubo’s credit, he shook the moment off straight away and continued playing, but the crowd reacted in anger.
What he did to Kubo wasn’t enough for the Real Madrid attacker. Towards the end of the first half, he won a foul on the edge of the Sociedad box, with Aramburu deemed the offender. Aramburu was already on a yellow card at that point, and while it’s debatable whether the foul was even committed, Vinicius spoke loudly to the referee, counting on his fingers and demanding the Sociedad right-back to be sent off. And when he scored the opening goal from the spot later, he felt compelled to put his finger to his lips, shushing the crowd.
This wasn’t the first time for Vinicius to wind the crowd at an away stadium up like this. He was a victim of vile racist gestures and chants in the past, especially at Valencia’s Mestalla. To be clear, there can never, ever, be an excuse for racism, and the culprits should always be punished most severely. But as was the case at the Anoeta on Saturday, sometimes he does something surprisingly unsportsmanlike, without any need, and creates a hostile environment himself.
It appears that Vinicius simply needs to create an enemy, rather than opponent, in his own mind, to get fully motivated. The officials in the La Liga and the Champions League should arguably be more alert to the possibility of such behaviour from the 24-year-old and be prepared to act.
The aftermath
These three points have brought Real Madrid within a point from arch-rivals Barcelona at the top of the La Liga table, but the Catalans are yet to play their game this week as they face Girona in one of the derbies of the region on Sunday. If Barcelona continue their winning ways at the Montilivi, which will by no means be an easy task, Los Blancos may find it difficult to keep up in the title race.
Both giants will now begin their Champions League campaigns, another aspect that will surely bear significance on what happens on the domestic scene. Real face Stuttgart at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday, before taking on Alaves in La Liga next weekend, also at home, and then heading across town to clash with Atletico Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano.
Tuesday will see Sociedad in La Liga action again already, when they travel to play against Mallorca. At the end of the week, they’ll go to face Valladolid, before embarking on their Europa League adventure against OGC Nice in France.
Alguacil’s team performed reasonably well against Real Madrid and can be considered unlucky not to have gotten anything from the game, but it’s the results that matter, and a look at the table reveals that Real Sociedad have only four points from five games, which puts them in 16th place. First and foremost, they need to start putting those chances away; the rest of their game appears to be on a truly high level.
