Real Sociedad pile more misery on 10-man Real Madrid

Real Sociedad ended their 15-year wait for a win at the Santiago Bernabeu, beating 10-man Real Madrid 2-0 in La Liga on Sunday.

See how the action unfolded at the Bernabeu with our liveblog!

Willian Jose’s early penalty and a late Ruben Pardo header stunned the Bernabeu faithful, who booed Madrid off the field, although Los Blancos should’ve been awarded a penalty when Geronimo Rulli wiped out Vinicius Jr.

Injuries to Gareth Bale and Marco Asensio seemed to let in Isco, but Madrid boss Santiago Solari surprisingly opted to go with Vinicius on the left wing.

Elsewhere, Solari was able to name a full-strength back five and midfield against a Real side who were down in 15th place after four straight defeats and sacked Coach Asier Garitano on Boxing Day.

Garitano had been replaced by Imanol Alguacil, who was promoted from the Basques’ B team, and he handed a debut to left-back Aihen Munoz, with Theo Hernandez unable to face his parent club.

La Real had won just five of their 71 trips to the Bernabeu and only one of their last 22 meetings with Madrid, yet they took the lead inside the opening three minutes.

Casemiro clumsily hauled down Mikel Merino in the box, allowing Willian Jose to punish his old team from the penalty spot.

Vinicius was Madrid’s best bet for an equaliser, yet Geronimo Rulli wasn’t to be beaten in the visitors’ goal.

Rulli kept out the Brazilian’s overhead kick and Varane’s rebound from close range, before Mikel Oyarzabal lifted his strike in the Blancos box just over.

Vazquez clipped a cross-shot on to the far post, but he then tripped Merino from behind for a second yellow card with half an hour still to play.

A controversial turning point in the match saw Rulli wipe out Vinicius as he rounded the goalkeeper. However, the referee ignored Los Merengues’ penalty appeals and the VAR didn’t intervene.

Indeed, the Argentine stayed on the pitch to pull off a double stop from point-blank range on Vinicius and then Ramos.

Courtois did his best to keep Madrid in the game, but he could only watch Willian Jose perfectly pick out Pardo, who buried a free header.

Willian Jose had only Courtois in front of him when he received a cutback in Madrid’s box with seconds to spare, but he blazed his finish over.

The result not only dropped Solari’s side out of the Champions League places, but it also meant they had dropped eight defeats’ worth of points in the League.

Real Madrid 0-2 Real Sociedad

Vazquez sent off 61 (RM) Willian Jose pen 3, Pardo 83 (RS)

Real Madrid: Courtois; Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo (Reguilon 77); Modric, Casemiro (Isco 57), Kroos (Ceballos 80); Vazquez, Benzema, Vinicius

Real Sociedad: Rulli; Aritz (Zaldua 69), Diego Llorente, Hector Moreno, Aihen (Zubeldia 84); Merino (Pardo 73), Illarramendi, Zurutuza; Januzaj, Willian Jose, Oyarzabal

Referee: Munuera Montero

La Liga - Club News