Real Madrid 4-1 Real Sociedad: Mbappé hat-trick sends Real Madrid top of La Liga | OneFootball

José Mourinho’s first home game in his second spell in charge of Real Madrid got off to a positive start as they defeated Real Sociedad by at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Coming off the back of a last-minute victory against Espanyol in gameweek one, Real Madrid started brightly but took until the 40th minute to open the scoring through Kylian Mbappé. Real Sociedad quickly responded and equalised before the break as the sides went into half time level.

Mbappé scored his second on the hour mark before Vinícius Júnior tapped home from close range after good work from Jude Bellingham. Mbappé completed his hattrick ten minutes before the end, as Real Madrid strolled to a convincing victory to go top of La Liga.

As it happened

Madrid started well and had a couple of early sightings of goal, the closest coming after Vinícius Júnior slipped Kylian Mbappé in behind, but he took on the shot from a difficult angle and it was a comfortable save for Álex Remiro.

The best of the opening ten minutes fell to the visitors and to Mikel Oyarzabal, who found himself free in the box, but his low effort was too close to Thibaut Courtois and the Belgian shot-stopper was able to keep it out.

The home side began to take control of the contest again, sustaining a large amount of pressure on the Sociedad goal. They should have taken the lead after Federico Valverde won the ball back high before the ball fell to Mbappé, who opted to tee up Vinícius, but Remiro came up with a big stop to deny the Brazilian.

Both sides had further sightings of goal, but it took until the 39th minute for Real Madrid to find the breakthrough with Mbappé the goalscorer. Again it came after good work from Valverde to carry the ball forward and find the Frenchman, who took a wonderful touch to create some separation from the defender before lashing home a brilliant left-footed effort into the top corner.

But the lead lasted only a few minutes as Real Sociedad levelled before the break. It came after a bizarre sequence of play as Job Ochieng ran onto a long ball in behind but delayed his shot, allowing Ibrahim Konaté to get back and block the effort with the chance seemingly gone. Fortunately for the visitors, Konaté’s block rolled straight into the path of Luka Sučić, who was able to fire home the equaliser.

A flowing move from Madrid at the beginning of the second half saw another big chance fall to Mbappé, but his effort was too close to Remiro, who was able to keep it out with his feet.

With 59 minutes on the clock, the Bernabeu erupted as Mbappé restored the hosts’ lead. It came after quick interplay around the Sociedad penalty area, before Jude Bellingham teed up the French striker who calmly slotted home for his second of the night.

And it wasn’t long before Madrid had a third. Vinícius the goalscorer, but it was all down to the quality and the tenacity of Bellingham. The Englishman showed close control in the box to fathom an opportunity which was blocked, but he didn’t give up and won the ball back in the box, before squaring the ball to the Brazilian who had only had to tap home into an empty net.

Mbappé completed his hattrick ten minutes before the end, and this time Vinícius was the provider. The winger brilliantly stood up his man, faking to go inside before finding the run of Mbappé, who delicately chipped the ball over Remiro, scoring his side’s fourth and securing the match ball in the process.

Brahim Díaz thought he had added Real Madrid’s fifth but the goal was ruled out for offside. It did not matter as José Mourinho’s side strolled to a convincing victory as they sit top of La Liga after matchweek two.