Los Blancos thought they had opened the scoring inside two minutes when Kylian Mbappe laid the ball off for a composed Arda Guler finish, but the Frenchman had strayed marginally offside.
Mbappe continued to prowl and saw an attempt saved when he got on the end of Dani Carvajal’s searching cross, before teaching Mikel Goti a stern lesson on the 23-year-old’s first senior start, punishing his misplaced pass by racing behind Duje Caleta-Car and clinically firing past Alex Remiro.
Mbappe clipped the outside of the post shortly after, but La Real responded well to their setback with Ander Barrenetxea hitting the side netting.
There was still a reminder of Madrid’s threat, as Eder Militao forced two spectacular saves from Remiro.
The Reale Arena then erupted with roars of hope in the 32nd minute, as Dean Huijsen was shown a straight red card for cynically pulling Mikel Oyarzabal as Sociedad’s captain tried to run behind.
Militao prevented any further damage by blocking Barrenetxea’s shot, and after Carvajal’s header hit the post, Arda Guler doubled the visitors’ lead before the break by linking up with Mbappe and stroking the ball into the net.
The hosts were left in complete disbelief five minutes after the restart, as Pablo Marin’s attempt was deflected onto the post by Aurelien Tchouameni and the ball teasingly trickled onto the other post before being cleared by Militao.
Their refusal to give up was rewarded when Carvajal handled Barrenetxea’s cross, setting the stage for Oyarzabal to send Thibaut Courtois the wrong way from the penalty spot.
Mbappe struck wide following a swashbuckling run, but La Real were soon back on the front foot with Courtois rushing out to deny Oyarzabal and Caleta-Car sending his volley over.
While the pressure continued, Courtois came out brilliantly to stop Oyarzabal reaching Carlos Soler’s through ball and held Caleta-Car’s header, as Real Madrid extended their perfect start in La Liga to four matches despite having conceded for just the second time this term.
In stark contrast, Real Sociedad are still winless this term and have suffered back-to-back defeats.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid)
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