Real Madrid vs. Real Sociedad Player Ratings: Eden Hazard is magical

Real Madrid conceded in just the second minute, but they ended up defeating fourth-place Real Sociedad convincingly.

Sergio Ramos made an uncharacteristic backpass in the second minute to gift Willian Jose the game’s first goal, and Real Madrid fans were worried that this could be another case of the cursed post-break blues for Los Blancos.

Instead, Madrid buckled down and dominated the rest of the game against Real Sociedad, thoroughly outplaying the underdogs in the second half. After slow starts, the likes of Fede Valverde and Luka Modric stepped up their games to their full potential, while Eden Hazard and Karim Benzema were unstoppable in the attack.

Real Madrid look like the best team in La Liga right now, even as they still jockey directly with FC Barcelona in the league table. They lost their streak of clean sheets due to Ramos’ early error, bu their defense has never been in question. Real showed that their attack is now operating on all cylinders, and this was an immensely satisfying win against a Sociedad team that strung together dangerous moves.

Sociedad were a legitimate threat, but Real turned them aside in front of the Santiago Bernabeu faithful on Saturday.

Here are full player ratings from Los Merengues’ satisfying victory.