Real Madrid win at Anoeta thanks to a great performance by Lunin

A Real Madrid with a line-up of circumstances took an important step towards the final of the Cup by winning at Anoeta by a goal difference and a defensive approach playing on the counterattack against a very intense and dominant Real Sociedad, but denied in front of goal, crashing again and again against a great Lunin, who substituted excellently for Courtois, something that already happened throughout last season.

The big news for Madrid was that Vinícius was playing as captain, the first time this had happened in his career, something that happened because none of the four official captains played: Carvajal, Modric, Lucas Vázquez and Valverde. The armband gave the Brazilian the chance to speak to the referee, Sánchez Martínez from Murcia. The Real Madrid number seven only protested vehemently once in the first half when he claimed a penalty was not awarded due to a push from Aramburu.

The chants “Asencio, die” was chanted by a section of the public

The match was played with a section of the public chanting “Asencio, die”, a constant chant that is sung to the Canary Islander in some Spanish stadiums. In the 40th minute, at the request of Vinícius, Sánchez Martínez applied the protocol and ordered the game to be stopped and asked the field delegate to announce over the video scoreboards that if these chants continued, the match would be suspended.

As every time Madrid goes to Anoeta, the match was very hard fought. It was a very different Madrid than usual because Arda Güler and Endrick played from the start. With Mbappé and Valverde in Madrid, another novelty was seeing Asencio at right back, a position in which he suffered more than in the central position. Real Sociedad played more the game they wanted, with Take Kubo moving very well on the right and between the lines and with very high pressure. Already in the third minute the Japanese forced a great save from Lunin.

The goal Endrick scored on a pass from Bellingham

Luckily for Madrid, in the midst of trying to stop Real, the first chance they had to launch a counterattack, in the 18th minute, was lethal. Vinícius stole the ball from Zubimendi and Bellingham made a long pass that reached Endrick, who faced Remiro and beat him with a shot that was close to the post with his left foot.

In the first half, there was only one other chance for Madrid, but it was a very clear one, another counterattack that left Vinicius in front of the San Sebastian goalkeeper, who made a great save and sent the ball out for a corner. From then until the break, there was only constant harassment of Madrid's goal, with all their players dedicated to defensive tasks. Madrid didn't have the ball for long and both Güler and Asencio suffered terribly on their side. The Canary Islander also received a yellow card and after the break he was replaced by Lucas Vázquez.

The second part Many chances and no goals

The second half started with two clear chances for Real, both of which were again denied by Lunin. In the first, he made a handball save from Oyarzabal and then blocked a very dangerous shot from Kubo. Endrick responded, and a minute later he caught a ball from Vinícius, turned around and launched a powerful shot off the crossbar.

After ten minutes, Madrid balanced the game a little more but continued to feel uneasy. A back pass from Fran García almost cost them the equaliser. Kubo continued to create a lot of danger and Ancelotti reacted with a very conservative change. He took off Enrick for Alaba.

At first it didn't seem like a great idea for Los Blancos because it only served to further push Madrid back and because Endrick, although he is a very intermittent player, when he appears he is more dangerous than a piranha. The last ten minutes began with Real besieging Madrid's area, which found a dangerous counterattack in a shot from Bellingham that Remiro sent out for a corner in a display of reflexes.

In the 83rd minute Brahim and Rodrygo came on for Vinícius and Güler, who had had a very unfortunate night. Remiro denied Bellingham a goal again and Madrid had to settle for a 0-1 scoreline, which was good but certainly not definitive.