{"id":480593,"date":"2026-02-15T00:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T00:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/480593\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T00:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T00:54:08","slug":"real-madrid-4-1-real-sociedad-15-feb-2026-game-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/480593\/","title":{"rendered":"Real Madrid 4-1 Real Sociedad (15 Feb, 2026) Game Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior<\/a> scored two penalties and a Real Madrid<\/a> team without superstar Kylian Mbapp\u00e9<\/a> moved top of La Liga with a 4-1 win over Real Sociedad<\/a> on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Mbapp\u00e9 watched from the substitutes’ bench after missing some team training sessions during the week with discomfort in his left knee. Madrid coach \u00c1lvaro Arbeloa said Friday he was able to play, but evidently he did not want to rush his star goal-getter.<\/p>\n

Nor did he need to.<\/p>\n

Mbapp\u00e9 and Jude Bellingham<\/a>, out with a hamstring injury, watched as Madrid produced an assured team performance to end the visitors’ 10-game unbeaten run across all competitions and move two points clear of Barcelona<\/a> before the defending champion visits Girona<\/a> on Monday.<\/p>\n

Perhaps Tuesday’s team-dinner at a fancy restaurant paid for by Mbapp\u00e9 and Vin\u00edcius helped focus the players before facing Benfica<\/a> in the Champions League playoffs next week.<\/p>\n

\"ViniciusVinicius Junior celebrates scoring his team’s fourth goal during the Spanish league football match between Real Madrid CF and Real Sociedad at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid on February 14, 2026.<\/p>\n

Pierre-Philippe MARCOU \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Gonzalo Garc\u00eda<\/a> opened the scoring with a slight touch to Trent Alexander-Arnold<\/a>‘s cross in the fifth minute. However, it was to be a largely frustrating game for the young attacker, who failed to make more of other good opportunities.<\/p>\n

Dean Huijsen<\/a> conceded a penalty for bringing down Yangel Herrera<\/a>, and Mikel Oyarzabal<\/a> duly equalized from the spot with a hard high centrally placed shot in the 21st.<\/p>\n

Referee Francisco Jos\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez Maeso awarded another penalty at the other end four minutes later when Jon Aramburu<\/a> caught Vin\u00edcius’ ankle, bringing him down. The Brazilian dusted himself off to score from the spot in the 25th.<\/p>\n

Madrid captain Federico Valverde<\/a> gratefully scored the third in the 31st after being left too much space at the edge of the penalty box. It was Valverde’s first goal of the season.<\/p>\n

Garc\u00eda should have scored again before the break when Valverde set him up for what looked like a simple tap in, but Vin\u00edcius made it 4-1 with his second spot kick after the break, awarded after Aramburu was again penalized for bringing him down.<\/p>\n

Dani Carvajal<\/a> made his long-awaited return around the hour mark when he replaced Alexander-Arnold for his first league appearance since Madrid’s 2-1 loss to Barcelona in October. Carvajal was reportedly unhappy that the 21-year-old Castilla player David Jim\u00e9nez<\/a> played at right back in Valencia<\/a> last weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior scored two penalties and a Real Madrid team without superstar Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 moved top of La…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23901,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-480593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}