🏏 Wed, 26 Aug 2026 21:00 CEST
Real Madrid
vs
Real Sociedad
4-2-3-1 vs 4-2-3-1
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- This is the rescheduled opening-round fixture, and the table reads very differently for the two sides. Real Madrid sit seventh on three points with a +1 goal difference after winning 2-1 away at Espanyol in round two, while Real Sociedad are 19th on zero points following a 0-1 defeat at Real Betis. Sevilla lead the standings on six points from two matches, so a win here would push Madrid right back into the mix with a game in hand.
- Takefusa Kubo returns to the club that once owned him. The 25-year-old left-footed right winger moved to Madrid from FC Tokyo and built his reputation through loans at Mallorca, Villarreal and Getafe before settling in San Sebastian. His trademark is holding the ball under pressure, drawing defenders in and then cutting inside or slipping a pass through, and he will be matched up against Alvaro Fernandez, the 23-year-old left-back who himself returned to Madrid after a spell at Benfica.
- Madrid's back line is built around sheer size. Dean Huijsen, 21 and 195cm, arrives at centre-back with Juventus, Roma and Bournemouth already behind him, alongside 194cm France international Ibrahima Konate, whose career took him from Sochaux to RB Leipzig and Liverpool. At right-back is Denzel Dumfries, the 30-year-old Netherlands international signed from Inter who scored in the 2022 World Cup quarter-final against Argentina.
- Every one of Madrid's four attackers can decide a game on his own. Kylian Mbappe, 27, leads the line after prolific years at Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain, Vinicius Junior operates on the left, Jude Bellingham takes the No.10 role after his Borussia Dortmund years, and 21-year-old Arda Guler works the right with the left foot that earned him the No.10 shirt at Fenerbahce. Whether Sociedad can hold a high line against that quartet will shape the whole match.
- The midfield pairings offer a clear contrast in style. Madrid pair Uruguay's Federico Valverde, a relentless box-to-box runner who began his Spanish career on loan at Deportivo La Coruna, with 173cm Bernardo Silva, signed from Manchester City and one of the hardest players in Europe to dispossess. Sociedad answer with academy graduate Beñat Turrientes, 24, and Venezuela international Yangel Herrera, 28, whose physicality broke him into the elite at Girona.
- There is a strong Manchester City subplot. Bernardo Silva lines up for Madrid against two former City team-mates in Sociedad's ranks: left-back Sergio Gomez, the 25-year-old left-footer who collected six trophies at the Etihad after coming through Barcelona's academy via Dortmund and Anderlecht, and Yangel Herrera. Gomez's flank duel with Guler pits two left-footed technicians directly against each other.
- Vinicius Junior against Jon Aramburu is the individual battle to watch on the other side. The 24-year-old right-back, who also represents Venezuela, worked his way back through Deportivo La Guaira and a loan at Real Union before establishing himself, and he brings both stamina and a dangerous cross. How much help he needs against Vinicius's acceleration and inside cuts will dictate where Sociedad's defensive balance sits.
- The goalkeeping duel is a heavyweight one. Thibaut Courtois, 34 and 200cm tall, brings the shot-stopping and accurate left-footed distribution honed at Genk, Atletico Madrid and Chelsea. Facing him is Alex Remiro, the 31-year-old former Athletic Club keeper with more than 300 appearances for Sociedad and a Euro 2024 winners' medal, whose command of high balls settles the defence in front of him.
- Sociedad's defensive core is strikingly young. Jon Martin is only 20, stands 185cm and has come through the B team via Spain's U-19s, while 23-year-old Luken Beitia is another homegrown centre-back still establishing himself. Up front, captain Mikel Oyarzabal, the 29-year-old left-footer who scored the winning goal in the Euro 2024 final, risks being isolated as the lone striker, which makes the timing of Orri Oskarsson's introduction crucial. The 21-year-old Iceland captain, 186cm tall, joined from FC Copenhagen for a club-record 20 million euros.
- Madrid's bench looks decisive in itself. Trent Alexander-Arnold, 27, waits with the long-range passing and set-piece delivery that won him the Premier League and Champions League at Liverpool; former Chelsea left-back Marc Cucurella, 28, covers the other flank; Eduardo Camavinga, 23, offers press resistance in midfield; and 190cm Antonio Rudiger, 33, adds physicality at the back. Sociedad's own options include Carlos Soler, a set-piece specialist with Valencia and Paris Saint-Germain behind him, and 23-year-old Arsen Zakharyan, the former Dinamo Moscow playmaker.