By Joiner Martinez
Sep 14, 2024, 6:18 PM EDT
Strikers Vinícius Júnior and Kylian Mbappé shared a pair of penalties with which Real Madrid sealed a 2-0 victory in their visit to Real Sociedad, so as not to lose any more points in the Spanish league.
The Merengues had a chance to win when Güler dared to take a shot at goal that Gómez deflected with his arm when he tried to cover his face so that Martínez Munuera could point to the penalty that “Vini” had no problem scoring.
Mbappé then sent his second penalty of the tournament into the net, converting a foul in the 75th minute that referee Juan Martínez Munuera called after resorting to VAR to assess Jon Aramburu’s stomp on Vinícius.
Mbappé scored for the second game in a row to reach three goals in the season (four this season) after Martínez Munuera resorted to the video to point out a stomp on “Vini.”
The victory left bad news for the Merengues after Brahim Díaz was substituted after 25 minutes due to a muscle problem. The Spanish-Moroccan forward is the latest to be injured for the Whites along with Jude Bellingham, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Eduardo Camavinga, Dani Ceballos and David Alaba.
The victory leaves the defending champion in second place with 11 points, one behind leaders Barcelona, who will visit Girona on Sunday. Real Sociedad remained stuck in 16th place with four points.
Ancelotti: “Real Madrid probably didn’t deserve to win”
After the conclusion of the match in San Sebastian, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti analysed what happened. “It was a difficult match. They probably didn’t deserve to win because Real played very well. We held on, we suffered… I really value their sacrifice and commitment, because it’s not easy to find against such tough opponents (…) The ball wasn’t coming out well. They pressed well in our half and we weren’t always able to find the free player,” he explained in words collected by Bernabéu Digital.
Regarding the physical problems of his players, the Italian has pointed out that “Militao has nothing. Brahim has discomfort in his abductor. We will evaluate tomorrow. The centre-backs could rotate in the next games. Today we were missing almost the entire midfield, we were in an emergency situation and we will be able to rotate more soon.” Moving on to the subject of the penalties between Mbappé and Vinícius, he said that “they take responsibility for taking the shots and it has gone very well so far.”
He also expressed his satisfaction with the team’s work. “We are not at 100%, but that is quite normal. The players are improving a lot and we are very happy because the most important thing was to start this stretch of matches well. It is difficult to find balance when you are missing four midfielders. I really value the performance of Brahim, Valverde, Modric, Güler…”, added Carletto.
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