Real Madrid 4-1 Real Sociedad: Player ratings as Los Blancos cruise to emphatic victory
By Tom Gott
Real Madrid strengthened their grip on the league title as they romped to a 4-1 victory over third-placed Real Sociedad at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Real enjoyed a lot of possession early on but Sociedad were presented with the first chance of the game after eight minutes. Dani Carvajal tripped David Silva in the box and gave away a penalty, from which Mikel Oyarzabal made no mistake.
Carlo Ancelotti's men had to work very hard to get through the stubborn Sociedad defence, and after Casemiro came within inches of connecting with a Luka Modric cross and equalising, it was Eduardo Camavinga who tied things up.
The young Frenchman arrowed a shot towards goal from all of 25 yards and profited from a fierce deflection from Asier Illarramendi to finally breach Sociedad's defence after 40 minutes - kicking off a hectic three minutes in the process.
Karim Benzema had the ball in the back of the net almost straight from kick-off but saw his goal ruled out for offside by both the assistant and VAR, in another of those outrageously harsh 'armpit hair' calls.
Camavinga's goal was nice, but Modric went one better with an absolutely stunning strike from range to give Real a hard-fought lead heading into the break.
The second half was played to the same tune. Benzema wasted little time in testing Alex Remiro, forcing a smart save from the Sociedad stopper seven minutes in.
The France striker thought he had finally bagged his goal shortly before the 70th minute, but his strike from a nice attacking move was again ruled out for an offside in the build-up.
Having been thwarted by VAR twice, the video assistant came to Real's aid in the 75th minute as a free-kick awarded to Vinicius Junior was upgraded to a penalty, and Benzema made no mistake this time around.
It was 4-1 just moments later. Dani Carvajal played the ball back to Marco Asensio, who had only just come on, and the substitute slotted home with real composure to seal a dominant victory for the league leaders.
Real Madrid player ratings vs Real Sociedad
1. Goalkeeper & defenders
Thibaut Courtois (GK) - 6/10 - Didn't have much to do at all. Went the right way for the penalty as well.
Dani Carvajal (RB) - 6/10 - All over the place early on but recovered with a nice assist for Asensio's goal. An eye for an eye.
Eder Militao (CB) - 7/10 - Weathered an early storm and injected so much energy into the side as they looked for an equaliser.
David Alaba (CB) - 8/10 - The same as Militao but was one of his side's best attackers in the first half. Made some mental runs considering he's a centre-back.
Ferland Mendy (LB) - 6/10 - Got into some nice positions going forward but his reluctance to cross the ball continues to be a problem.
2. Midfielders
Casemiro (DM) - 7/10 - Some awful long shots but some superb passing.
Luka Modric (CM) - 8/10 - An unreal player with an unreal goal. Made himself available constantly and stepped up in Toni Kroos' absence.
Eduardo Camavinga (CM) - 8/10 - Proved he's not the long-term replacement for Casemiro in defensive midfield. Some superb box-to-box work and deserved the good fortune of his goal.
3. Forwards
Rodrygo (RW) - 6/10 - A truly divisive performance. Brought very little flair or cutting edge in the final third, but instead kept his game simple and showed a level of intelligence that we haven't always seen from him. Twitter had no idea what to make of it.
Karim Benzema (ST) - 8/10 - The third player to record 100 assists in La Liga in the 21st century. Such selfless work for his team and definitely deserved a goal.
Vinicius Junior (LW) - 7/10 - Some superb dribbling but showed a few concerning signs of his old ways. A lot of touches of the ball without much cutting edge.
4. Substitutes
Marco Asensio (RW, 77' for Rodrygo) - 7/10
Dani Ceballos (CM, 82' for Modric) - 6/10
Marcelo (LW, 82' for Vinicius) - 7/10
Mariano Diaz (ST, 84' for Benzema) - N/A
Lucas Vazquez (RB, 84' for Carvajal) - N/A