La Liga: Real Madrid open eight-point lead at the top
Real Madrid produced a convincing performance to beat Real Sociedad and extend their lead at the top of La Liga to eight points.
The impressive Vinicius Jr opened the scoring for the visitors, combining well with Luka Jovic inside the area before finding the bottom corner.
Jovic, who replaced the injured Karim Benzema in the first half, then scored his first goal of the season, heading in from close range following a corner.
The hosts created little in response.
Alexander Isak flicked on a well-weighted delivery from Diego Rico in the first half, but Eder Militao recovered well to block the Sociedad forward’s effort.
Militao, who looked solid in the centre of Madrid’s defence, sent Vinicius through with a clever pass late on, but the frontman was denied by the feet of keeper Alex Remiro.
It means Real Madrid head into the derby against Atletico a week on Sunday with a healthy lead at the top after Diego Simeone’s side were beaten 2-1 at home by Mallorca.
That saw Atletico slip back to fourth on 29 points, with Sevilla now Real’s closest challengers on 31 points and with a game in hand on the leaders.
It was a second successive defeat for Real Sociedad after going 13 unbeaten in the top flight, meaning they sit fifth, level on points with Atletico having played a game more.
