Having been pushed around for a long time, Real Madrid secured a tough victory against Real Sociedad on Saturday (2-0) thanks to two penalty goals from Vinicius and Mbappé on the fifth day of La Liga.
The two Madrid stars did not waver to offer the three points to their team in the second half (58th, 74th) against the run of play, allowing the reigning champion (2nd, 11 points) to temporarily return to within one length of its rival FC Barcelona (1st, 12 points), who face Girona on Sunday in the Catalan derby.
Harassed and not very dangerous offensively despite an inspired but too isolated Kylian Mbappé, Real had luck on their side seeing the locals hit the posts three times, during attempts by the Croatian Luka Sucic (25th, 45th) and the Surinamese Sheraldo Becker (36th).
“It was a very complicated match that we probably didn’t deserve to win. Real Sociedad played very well. We knew how to keep our heads down in difficult moments and that has to be highlighted,” said Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti after the match.
Mbappé, who scored twice before the break against Betis Sevilla, was the most prominent player on the Merengue side, but came up against Spanish goalkeeper Alex Remiro (6th, 19th) and did not close his right foot enough after beating Venezuelan Jon Aramburu with a nice shot worthy of his idol Cristiano Ronaldo (37th).
Despite this good result in accounting terms, the reigning Spanish and European champion is still not reassuring in the game three days before his debut in the Champions League against Stuttgart on Tuesday.
Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti, deprived of many injured or recovering starters (Bellingham, Tchouaméni, Camavinga, Alaba, Ceballos…), will probably have to do without his Moroccan playmaker Brahim Diaz, who went off injured in the first half while holding the inside of his right thigh (24th).
Real Sociedad (16th), not rewarded for its convincing first half, remains stuck at the bottom of the table with only four points in five games.
Very annoyed in a press conference, the Basque coach Imanol Alguacil felt that his team had been wronged. “For me, there was only one penalty. (…) It’s really unfortunate, we are really killing football,” he said about the two penalties validated with the help of video refereeing.
– Villarreal confirms, Jesus Navas revives Sevilla –
Finally overtaken by Real on goal difference, Villarreal (3rd, 11 points) had taken second place for a few hours by overcoming Mallorca, reduced to ten in the second half, thanks to a goal in the 94th minute from Spanish international Ayoze Pérez (2-1).
Buoyed by a hat-trick from their goalscorer and captain Javi Puado, newly promoted Espanyol Barcelona secured their second league victory against Alavés (3-2), and Sevilla FC finally got their season off to a flying start with a first win against Getafe (1-0), thanks to the evergreen Jesus Navas, 38.
This fifth day continues on Sunday (4:15 p.m.) with the Catalan derby between Girona and FC Barcelona, the two future opponents of Paris Saint-Germain and AS Monaco in the Champions League, then the clash between Atlético Madrid – another opponent of PSG – and Valencia (9 p.m.).
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