Who: Real Madrid vs Real Sociedad What: Spanish football’s La Liga Where: Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, Spain When: August 26, at 9pm ( ) How to follow: Al Jazeera Sport will bring you all the buildup from ahead of our live text commentary stream As Real Madrid and Real Sociedad go head-to-head on Wednesday, it will match up one of last season’s trophy winners in Spain against a side desperate to put their hands on silverware this time around. Either Los Blancos or their rivals Barcelona have appeared in all but four of the last 12 finals of the Copa Del Rey, Spain’s premier cup competition, but Sociedad claimed victory last season, beating Atletico Madrid. Real, meanwhile, were struggling to keep pace with Barca in La Liga and head into the new term seeking to avoid a third season without a trophy.
Not since 2006 have Real endured such a run. Al Jazeera Sport takes a look at the La Liga fixture where Jose Mourinho makes his first appearance in front of a home crowd on his return as Real manager. Mourinho’s second spell in charge of Los Blancos began with a last-gasp 2-1 victory at Espanyol in La Liga on Saturday Real needed substitute Carlos Espi to pounce in the 90th minute to grab the winner after Jude Bellingham opened the scoring in Los Blancos’ opening fixture of the season, before Alex Calatrava levelled for the home side in Barcelona.
Back in charge of Madrid 13 years after leaving, Portuguese veteran Mourinho must bring the dressing room under control after the chaos of last season – and prevent Barcelona from securing a La Liga threepeat. Mourinho started the match at Espanyol with superstars Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Bellingham, as well as handing debuts to Bernardo Silva, Denzel Dumfries and Ibrahima Konate. Bellingham had an excellent first season at Madrid after arriving from Borussia Dortmund, but the subsequent two were disappointing, both for him and the club, who failed to win a major trophy in either.
Mourinho installed him in attacking midfield with a licence to roam, and the England international was heavily involved before his goal, which came via a header from Arda Guler’s dangerous crossed free-kick. Mbappe got in behind on the right of the area in the early stages only to be denied by the keeper, and the French forward, La Liga’s top scorer in both of his two seasons at the club, was far from his lethal best. On the left flank, Vinicius had little impact beyond winning a series of fouls from Espanyol players who were determined to shut him down by any means.
Mourinho, once known for his fiery personality and frequent touchline outbursts, says he wants to help Vinicius Junior control his emotions better. The Real coach thinks Vinicius is being unfairly targeted, but the star forward can do better when reacting to provocations after the Brazilian was involved in several incidents with opposing fans and players at Espanyol. Last year, Mourinho was criticised for attacking Vinicius’ character after the player accused an opponent of racially insulting him during a Champions League match against Benfica.
The coach in charge of Benfica at the time suggested that the Brazil forward incited opposing players with his celebrations after scoring. The veteran Portuguese coach said it has become obvious the difference in the treatment on the field towards Vinicius and towards other players. The match at Real Betis resulted in a 1-0 reverse, though, with Rodrigo Riquelme’s tidy volley from Cucho Hernandez’s cross settling an otherwise tight and even game.
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