Real Madrid continues its collection of refereeing controversies in this return from LaLiga. This time it was not for an offside, but for a penalty on Vinicius that referee Estrada Fernández saw clearly and the VAR saw it the same or if it was not, he did not intervene. The referees considered that the light touch of Diego Llorente on Vinicius's leg was decisive so that the Real Madrid player could not shoot, unbalance him and fall into the area. In short, a penalty that Sergio Ramos transformed to make it 0-1 in the 50th minute that led the white victory All that, among the protests of the Real Sociedad that were useless.
(+) See the summary of the match
And if even more controversy were missing, Real Sociedad was annulled by Januzaj 1-1 in the 68th minute for positional offside of Merino who was offside in the path of his teammate's shot. Another offside that allied with Real Madrid.
A Real Madrid that left San Sebastián being the leader of the championship. Zidane's men did not miss the stumbling block of Barcelona in Seville to beat Real Sociedad and be the new leader. A win based on the speed of Vinicius, starting at Anoeta instead of Hazard and that was decisive for the penalty play, but above all because he was the only Real Madrid player capable of generating danger. Especially in a boring first half on the part of the two teams that were more pending to defend than to attack and waiting for the opponent's failure rather than generating chances. A good example of this is that it wasn't until the 33rd minute that the first shot came between the three poles of the two teams.
Everything happens in the second part
With this panorama, what had to happen happened, which came to rest. Everything interesting about the match came in the second half. In a ride by Vinicius came the aforementioned penalty that Sergio Ramos transformed to make it 0-1 in the 50th minute.
The central defender had to withdraw shortly afterwards due to a blow to the knee. Real Sociedad took a step forward with the entry of Januzaj who scored in the 68 ', but they canceled the 1-1 for Merino's positional offside.
The Basque team was squeezing a Real Madrid that gave control of the game to the rival and began to pass it more, but Benzema appeared to put the 0-2 in the 70th minute. A goal also 'dressed' with some controversy because it seemed that the Frenchman had helped by the arm to score, but after the VAR reviews, the goal went up to the scoreboard.
It seemed that everything was already decided, but the Royal Society had not said its last word. Merino scored the 1-2 in the 83rd minute that gave air to the Basque team to try to turn the scoreboard.
Seeing the situation, Zidane entered Mendy and Modric on the field to ensure the victory, the lead.
Real Sociedad, 1
Remiro (2); Gorosabel (1) (Elustondo (2), m. 60), Llorente (1), Le Normand (2), Monreal (1); Zubeldia (3) (Zubimendi (2), m. 80), Merino (2), Odegaard (1) (Roberto López (2), m. 80); Portu (2), Oyarzabal (1) (Januzaj (2), m. 60), Isak (1) (Wilian José (2), m. 80)
Real Madrid, 2
Courtois (3), Carvajal (3), Varane (3), Sergio Ramos (3) (Militao (2), m 60), Marcelo (2) (Mendy (sc), m. 89), Valverde (2) ( Modric (sc) m. 89), Casemiro (2), James (1) (Marco Asensio (1), m. 79), Kroos (2), Vinicius (3), Benzema (2) (Mariano (1), m. 78).
Goals: 0-1, Sergio Ramos (pen. M. 50); 0-2, Benzema (d. 70); 1-2, Merino (m. 83)
Referee: Estrada Fernández (C. Catalán). Yellows to Zubeldia (m. 16), Casemiro (m. 21), Gorosabel (m. 28), Llorente (m. 48). Modric (m. 96), Merino (m. 96)
Stadium: Game played behind closed doors at Reale Arena