Real Madrid vs Real Sociedad: Mourinho's Return and the Cup Challenge
The Bernabeu under lights. A returning Jose Mourinho on the home touchline. A Real Madrid side desperate to end a trophy drought that already feels like an accusation. And across from them, Real Sociedad, the team that broke the Barcelona–Madrid stranglehold on Spain’s cups last season and arrive in the capital with nothing to lose.
On Wednesday night in La Liga, it’s more than just matchday two. It’s a test of nerve, memory and ambition.
A champion’s aura under strain
For more than a decade, Spain’s major domestic finals have felt like a closed shop. Between them, Real Madrid and Barcelona have missed only four of the last 12 Copa del Rey finals. They are the default setting of Spanish football.
Last season, that script was torn up. Sociedad went all the way and beat Atletico Madrid to lift the cup, while Madrid laboured behind Barca in La Liga and finished another year empty-handed. Two straight seasons without a major trophy. If they stretch that to three, it will be their worst run since 2006.
That’s the backdrop to Mourinho’s return. The Portuguese coach is back in charge 13 years after his first spell, brought in to restore order in a dressing room that descended into chaos last season and to stop Barcelona from completing a La Liga three-peat.
His first step? Late, scrappy, but vital.
Mourinho’s second coming starts with a jolt
Real’s league campaign opened with drama at Espanyol. It took until the 90th minute for substitute Carlos Espi to rescue a 2-1 win, pouncing on a loose ball in the area to spare Madrid an awkward start.
Before that, Jude Bellingham had nodded in the first goal of the season from Arda Guler’s wickedly delivered free-kick, only for Alex Calatrava to drag Espanyol level in Barcelona.
“I think that we deserved to win but that Espanyol didn’t deserve to lose,” Mourinho said afterwards, acknowledging both Madrid’s dominance and the resistance they faced. He pointed to Espanyol’s advantage of having no World Cup absentees and a full pre-season together. It showed in their organisation and intensity.
Mourinho’s team sheet, though, underlined the scale of his task and the tools at his disposal. Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Bellingham all started. New signings Bernardo Silva, Denzel Dumfries and Ibrahima Konate were thrown straight in. Record recruit Yan Diomande and Marc Cucurella came off the bench.
It still took a poacher’s finish from Espi to settle it. Early days, but Real already look like a side searching for fluency rather than dictating it.
Bellingham central, Mbappe muted, Vinicius battered
Bellingham’s role is clear. After a brilliant first year in Madrid and two disappointing seasons that followed, Mourinho has placed him in attacking midfield with licence to roam and damage. Against Espanyol, he did just that, heavily involved in the build-up and then scoring with a header that showcased his timing and penalty-box instincts.
Mbappe’s night was more frustrating. La Liga’s top scorer in each of his two campaigns in Spain found space early on the right, only to be denied by the goalkeeper. After that, he never quite hit his usual ruthless stride.
On the left, Vinicius spent most of the evening being kicked, tugged and chopped down. Espanyol’s players took turns stopping him, legally or otherwise, and he rarely escaped long enough to do real damage beyond winning a stream of free-kicks.
That, in turn, fed straight into Mourinho’s first big theme of the season.
Mourinho, Vinicius and the demand for protection
The old Mourinho – the touchline firebrand – is trying to show a different side. He insists he wants to help Vinicius manage his emotions, to keep his cool when the provocation comes from both stands and opponents.
“There is on the field and off the field,” he said, drawing a line between fan abuse and what happens in the game. He argued that if insults are not racist or homophobic, Vinicius can and should handle them better. The bigger issue, in his view, is what happens when the ball is in play.
On the pitch, Mourinho has shifted responsibility towards the referees – “the judges”, as he likes to call them – to protect both players and the spectacle. He believes opponents have learned exactly how far they can push Vinicius, physically and verbally, before punishment arrives.
“It’s gone into a spiral in which the opponents know what they can do and what they can’t do,” he said. “If the players can provoke and pressure Vini, either physically or with words, if the yellow card is only shown after 10 fouls, if there can be violence, then it’s a type of treatment that I don’t like.”
The relationship between coach and star winger has extra history. Last season, when Mourinho was Benfica coach, he was criticised after questioning Vinicius’ behaviour in the wake of the Brazilian accusing an opponent of racially abusing him during a Champions League tie. Mourinho argued then that the forward’s celebrations incited rivals.
Now, he insists he wants to work with Vinicius on his reactions to fans, while admitting it is harder to control the in-game chaos. The Bernabeu crowd will watch closely to see how that dynamic plays out when the pressure rises.
Sociedad’s tough start – and quiet warning
Sociedad arrive in Madrid with their own frustrations. Their La Liga campaign began with a 1-0 defeat at Real Betis, settled by Rodrigo Riquelme’s clean volley from a Cucho Hernandez cross in a game that was otherwise tight and even.
Betis, who finished fifth last season, are a strong yardstick. For Sociedad, two away games to open the campaign is a rough draw, especially for a team that managed only three wins in 19 league matches on the road last year.
Yet this is not a side that travels to the Bernabeu just to admire the stadium. Their recent history in this fixture proves it.
Memories that still sting in Madrid
Real’s most recent league meeting with Sociedad ended in a comfortable 4-1 home win. Vinicius scored twice from the spot, Gonzalo Garcia and Federico Valverde also found the net, and although Mikel Oyarzabal equalised with a penalty on 21 minutes, Madrid were 3-1 up by half-time and never looked back.
But scratch the surface and the picture changes.
Sociedad’s last victory over Madrid came in May 2023, a 2-0 win in La Liga. Takefusa Kubo and Ander Barrenetxea scored either side of Dani Carvajal’s red card in San Sebastian, a night when the Basque club’s intensity and organisation overwhelmed a disjointed Madrid.
Go back a little further and the scars deepen. In February 2020, Sociedad stunned the Bernabeu in the Copa del Rey with a 4-3 win that felt like a statement of fearlessness.
Martin Odegaard, then on loan and now Arsenal captain, opened the scoring. Alexander Isak struck twice to make it 3-0 by the 56th minute. Marcelo pulled one back, Mikel Merino restored the three-goal cushion, and only a late flurry from Rodrygo and Nacho – plus a red card for Andoni Gorosabel – turned it into a frantic finish. The upset stood.
In the league, Sociedad’s last win at the Bernabeu came in January 2019, a 2-0 victory sealed by Willian Jose and Ruben Pardo. Lucas Vazquez’s red card that day underlined Madrid’s frustration and lack of control.
The broader numbers show the scale of the task. Sociedad have won just one of their last 20 La Liga matches at Real Madrid. They have still managed 19 goals in that stretch, but Madrid have hit 54 at the other end and claimed 16 wins.
So the underdogs know they can score here. They just rarely leave with the points.
History, odds and the weight of expectation
The rivalry is lopsided in the record books. Across 158 meetings, Real Madrid have won 91 times to Sociedad’s 27.
The Opta supercomputer leans heavily towards the home side again, giving Madrid a 66 percent chance of victory. Sociedad’s chances sit at 15 percent, with the draw making up the rest.
Yet this is not a normal season for Real. The pressure of that trophy drought, the noise around Mourinho’s return, the new signings trying to click – all of it adds an edge that numbers can’t quite capture.
Team news: absences, doubts and returning faces
Madrid’s squad is already carrying scars. Eder Militao (muscle), Rodrygo (knee), Raul Asencio (thigh) and Ferland Mendy (hip) remain sidelined. Endrick (muscle), Thiago Pitarch (knee) and Aurelien Tchouameni (muscle) are doubts and may also miss out.
Bellingham is expected to feature despite leaving the pitch at Espanyol with an ice pack on his ankle. Mourinho will hope that was precaution rather than warning.
A likely XI for Real Madrid: Courtois; Dumfries, Konate, Huijsen, Cucurella; Bernardo, Valverde; Guler, Bellingham, Vinicius; Mbappe.
Sociedad have their own problems. Former Madrid right-back Alvaro Odriozola, now back at his boyhood club, faces a long spell out with a knee injury. Pablo Marin, Jon Gorrotxategi and Goncalo Guedes are all nursing muscle issues and will be assessed late.
Mikel Oyarzabal, who started on the bench against Betis, is expected to lead the line at the Bernabeu, bringing both goals and leadership.
A probable Real Sociedad XI: Remiro; Aramburu, Zubeldia, Martin, Gomez; Herrera, Soler; Kubo, Sucic, Barrenetxea; Oyarzabal.
Mourinho’s first Bernabeu test
Kick-off is set for 9pm local time (19:00 GMT) at the Bernabeu, with Al Jazeera Sport on air from 16:00 GMT to build up to live text coverage.
For Mourinho, this is more than a homecoming. It is the first real reading of where his Madrid stand – emotionally, tactically, competitively – against a side that has already shown it can rip up the script in this stadium.
Madrid are favourites. They usually are here.
But with a restless fanbase, a bruised superstar in Vinicius, a still-settling Mbappe, and a coach trying to rewrite his own story, the real question is simple: does this feel like the start of a new era, or the last roll of the dice for a giant still searching for its old, relentless self?
