Without Mbappe, Vinicius leads Real Madrid back to the top spot

Real Madrid achieved their eighth straight win in La Liga after overcoming Real Sociedad 4-1, allowing them to momentarily return to the top of the table. The visitors' 11-game unbeaten run in all tournaments officially concluded at Santiago Bernabeu.

Trent Alexander-Arnold starts for Real Madrid for the first time since December and immediately made an impact. In the 5th minute, the English defender delivered a precise curling cross that Gonzalo García tapped in to open the scoring. The match nearly took a different turn when Mikel Oyarzabal’s long-range shot narrowly missed the post just a minute earlier.

However, Oyarzabal did not have to wait long to make his mark. Midway through the first half, Dean Huijsen’s clumsy challenge on Yangel Herrera inside the box awarded Sociedad a penalty. Oyarzabal calmly converted the spot-kick down the middle, leveling the score at 1-1.

The balance lasted only 4 minutes. Jon Aramburu fouled Vinícius Júnior inside the penalty area, granting Real Madrid their second penalty of the game. With Kylian Mbappé absent, Vinícius confidently took responsibility and deceived goalkeeper Álex Remiro to restore the lead.

The home team extended their advantage after more than half an hour of play. Álvaro Carreras delivered a perfect through ball to Federico Valverde, who turned and fired from the edge of the box. The powerful shot left Remiro helpless to stop it. Before the first half ended, Real almost scored a fourth when Valverde set up García close-range, but the striker shockingly missed from just six meters.

If there was any debate about Vinícius’s first penalty, the incident early in the second half left no room for doubt. Aramburu fouled the Brazilian again inside the box. Although Remiro guessed correctly this time, Vinícius still converted the penalty successfully, bringing his La Liga tally this season to eight goals.

Leading 4-1, Real Madrid slowed the pace but maintained full control of the match. After an hour, Jon Martín nearly reduced the deficit for Sociedad with a sharp header from a corner, but Thibaut Courtois made a brilliant save.

In the remaining minutes, Álvaro Arbeloa’s team played with great enthusiasm. Arda Güler almost made it 5-1 if not for Martín’s timely clearance. In the final moments, offside ruled out a consolation goal by Orri Óskarsson and also prevented Vinícius from completing his hat-trick.

This defeat denied Real Sociedad the chance to extend their La Liga unbeaten streak to eight matches, something they haven’t achieved since November 2021. Meanwhile, Real Madrid continues to demonstrate terrifying consistency: they have won all 18 games this season when scoring first.