The Bernabéu filled up to see José Mourinho back in its dugout and spent the last half hour chanting for someone else. Kylian Mbappé scored three, Real Madrid won 4-1, and the evening turned from awkward to routine inside twenty minutes of the restart.
Forty minutes of nothing, then a warning
Mbappé opened it on 40 with his left foot from the middle of the box, which felt like the game settling into its expected shape. Four minutes later Luka Sučić equalised, also left footed, also from the centre, and the interval arrived at 1-1 with Madrid having created plenty and defended a single attack badly.
Mourinho's response was immediate and unsentimental. Marc Cucurella replaced Álvaro Carreras at half time, Carreras having been booked inside ten minutes and beaten more than once down that side.
Then Mbappé took it away
His second came on 60, right footed from the centre. Vinícius Júnior made it three on 68 from close range. Mbappé completed the hat-trick on 80, left footed from the left, his first three-goal game of the season and the moment the ground stopped being about the manager.
Three goals from three different feet and three different angles is the part worth noting. He is not being fed one type of chance.
Remiro is the reason it was not six
Madrid had 20 shots and put 11 on target. Real Sociedad had 10 and managed three. Álex Remiro made seven saves, Thibaut Courtois two, and possession finished level at 50.7 against 49.3, which tells you how little possession explains about this match.
A side that concedes 11 shots on target at the Bernabéu is usually beaten by more than three. Sociedad were not, and their goalkeeper is the whole explanation.
The eleven Mourinho trusted
Unchanged from the win at Espanyol, with Jude Bellingham central behind Mbappé and Arda Güler moved to the right. That is now two matches from two for a side missing Éder Militão, Ferland Mendy and Rodrygo, and without Aurélien Tchouaméni or Endrick tonight after late fitness checks.
Six points from the two league games he has managed, and both were harder than the scorelines suggest: a substitute rescued the first at Espanyol, a goalkeeper's off night would have flattered this one. Mourinho will take the record and keep the complaints private for now.
The discipline is worth a glance, though. Six bookings across the night, three of them Madrid's, and Camavinga's in the 94th minute of a match already won.
Málaga visit the Bernabéu on Sunday.
