Mourinho Returns as Real Madrid Faces Real Sociedad in La Liga Clash

The Bernabeu lights go back on for La Liga on Wednesday night, and with them comes a familiar figure stalking the home dugout. Jose Mourinho is back. Real Sociedad are in town. And one of Spain’s recent trophy winners is about to collide with a club that has forgotten what it feels like to lift anything.

Kick-off is at 9pm local time in Madrid (19:00 GMT), with Al Jazeera Sport live from 16:00 GMT for buildup and text commentary.

A cup king visits a club on edge

In Spain’s Copa del Rey over the past decade, Real Madrid and Barcelona have owned the stage. Between them, they’ve missed only four of the last 12 finals. Last season broke the script.

Real Sociedad stepped up, beat Atletico Madrid, and took the trophy north. They arrive in the capital now with the confidence of a club that knows it can win on the big nights – and with a fan base desperate to turn that into a habit, not a one-off.

Real, by contrast, are chasing ghosts. They open this campaign trying to avoid a third straight season without a major trophy. That hasn’t happened since 2006. For a club of this size, that’s not a blip. That’s a crisis.

So Mourinho’s homecoming is not a celebration. It’s an examination.

Mourinho’s second act starts with late drama

The new season began with a jolt of adrenaline in Barcelona. At Espanyol on Saturday, Real needed the 90th minute to escape.

Jude Bellingham, restored to a central attacking role with licence to roam, headed in the opener from an Arda Guler free-kick. Espanyol hit back through Alex Calatrava, and for long stretches the hosts looked like the team with more cohesion and sharper combinations.

Then came Carlos Espi.

Thrown on from the bench, he pounced on a loose ball in the box in stoppage time to snatch a 2-1 win. It was scrappy, dramatic, and exactly the kind of bailout Mourinho needed in his first league game back.

“I think that we deserved to win but that Espanyol didn’t deserve to lose,” Mourinho said afterwards, pointing to the home side’s continuity and lack of World Cup disruption as a clear advantage in August.

The names on his teamsheet, though, left no doubt about Real’s ambition. Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Bellingham all started. Bernardo Silva, Denzel Dumfries and Ibrahima Konate made debuts. Record signing Yan Diomande and Marc Cucurella came off the bench. The squad is stacked, the expectations higher still.

Bellingham, after a brilliant first season and two flat ones that mirrored the club’s own decline, has been handed the keys again. Against Espanyol he looked like a player reborn, heavily involved before his goal.

Mbappe, twice La Liga’s top scorer in his two seasons in Spain, found space on the right early on but lacked his usual ruthlessness. Vinicius, on the left, was kicked, clipped and dragged all evening, winning fouls but rarely finding rhythm.

The three points came. The questions remained.

Mourinho, Vinicius and the need for protection

Mourinho’s edge has always been emotional as much as tactical. This time, he has made it clear he wants to channel that energy into Vinicius rather than unleash it on everyone else.

The Brazilian forward has become a lightning rod – for defenders, for opposing fans, for referees. At Espanyol he was once again at the heart of several flashpoints.

“There is on the field and off the field,” Mourinho said. Insults from the stands, he argued, are something Vinicius can learn to handle better, as long as they are not racist or homophobic. That part, the coach believes, can be coached, discussed, managed.

On the pitch, though, Mourinho turned the spotlight on the officials – the “judges”, as he calls them. When persistent fouling is tolerated, when yellow cards arrive only after a long sequence of blows, when provocation is allowed to build, he argues that a pattern develops. Opponents know how far they can go with Vinicius. They push, they prod, they provoke.

“It’s gone into a spiral,” he said, highlighting the difference in how Vinicius is treated compared with others.

The backdrop makes that stance even more striking. Last year, as Benfica coach, Mourinho had criticised Vinicius’ behaviour after the Brazilian accused an opponent of racially insulting him in a Champions League tie. Mourinho then suggested the forward incited rivals with his goal celebrations.

“When I was Benfica’s coach, I was only interested about Benfica,” he reflected now, drawing a line between then and his current role.

Today, he insists he wants to help. Work on Vinicius’ reactions to fans. Try, as far as possible, to shield him from the worst of the on-field targeting. How that relationship evolves could shape Real’s season as much as any tactical tweak.

Sociedad’s slow start, tough schedule

On the other side of the pitch, Real Sociedad arrive with a very different opening chapter.

Their first league outing, away at Real Betis, ended in a 1-0 defeat. Rodrigo Riquelme’s clean volley from a Cucho Hernandez cross decided a tight contest between two sides that largely cancelled each other out.

Betis, fifth last season, are no soft touch. Yet the schedule has not been kind to Sociedad: back-to-back away games to start, after a campaign in which they managed only three wins from 19 league trips.

That travel record hangs over them. So does their history at the Bernabeu.

History leans white, but Sociedad know how to sting

Real Madrid’s dominance in this fixture is overwhelming. Across 158 meetings, they’ve won 91. Sociedad have just 27 victories.

The recent numbers in Madrid are even more brutal. In La Liga, Sociedad have only one win in their last 20 visits. They’ve scored 19 times in that run, but conceded 54. Real have taken 16 of those matches.

And yet, there are scars in the Bernabeu stands that tell a different story.

In February 2020, Sociedad tore into Real in the Copa del Rey, racing into a 3-0 lead through Martin Odegaard and an Alexander Isak brace before Mikel Merino made it 4-1. Marcelo, Rodrygo and Nacho turned it into a frantic 4-3 finish, with Andoni Gorosabel sent off late, but the shock was complete.

In La Liga, Sociedad’s last Bernabeu win came in January 2019, a 2-0 victory sealed by Willian Jose and Ruben Pardo, either side of Lucas Vazquez’s red card.

They also beat Real 2-0 in San Sebastian in May 2023, when Takefusa Kubo and Ander Barrenetxea struck after Dani Carvajal’s dismissal.

Real’s most recent home meeting with Sociedad, though, was a reminder of the usual order. A 4-1 win, Vinicius scoring twice from the spot, Gonzalo Garcia and Federico Valverde adding the others. Mikel Oyarzabal had briefly dragged Sociedad level with a penalty, but Madrid were 3-1 up by half-time and never looked back.

So the visitors know both extremes: the rare high of silencing this stadium and the more frequent reality of being overrun by it.

Team news: stars, doubts and returns

Real Madrid’s injury list remains significant. Eder Militao (muscle), Rodrygo (knee), Raul Asencio (thigh) and Ferland Mendy (hip) are all out. Endrick (muscle), Thiago Pitarch (knee) and Aurelien Tchouameni (muscle) are doubts and could miss the match as well.

The key relief for Mourinho is Jude Bellingham. He left the Espanyol game nursing his ankle with an ice pack, but is expected to feature.

A likely XI for Real:

• Courtois
• Dumfries
• Konate
• Huijsen
• Cucurella
• Bernardo
• Valverde
• Guler
• Bellingham
• Vinicius
• Mbappe

For Sociedad, there is a familiar face watching from the stands. Alvaro Odriozola, back at the club where he began his career after a spell at Real, is sidelined with a long-term knee injury. Pablo Marin, Jon Gorrotxategi and Goncalo Guedes all face late fitness tests over muscle issues.

Mikel Oyarzabal, who started on the bench at Betis, is expected to lead the line this time.

Sociedad’s probable lineup:

• Remiro
• Aramburu
• Zubeldia
• Martin
• Gomez
• Herrera
• Soler
• Kubo
• Sucic
• Barrenetxea
• Oyarzabal

The numbers and the mood

The Opta supercomputer leans heavily towards the hosts: Real Madrid are given a 66 percent chance of victory, with Sociedad at just 15 percent. The draw covers the rest.

On paper, the gulf is obvious. The budget, the squad depth, the history in this stadium. All of it screams Real.

But this is not just another league game. It’s Mourinho’s first night back at the Bernabeu as Real manager, 13 years after he left. It’s a club trying to slam the door on a barren run not seen in two decades. It’s a visiting side that has already tasted cup glory and knows exactly what it feels like to stun this ground.

Real’s season has started with a late escape. Sociedad’s with a narrow defeat. The question now is simple: does Wednesday night mark the beginning of a new Madrid era, or another reminder that in modern Spanish football, nothing is guaranteed – not even here?