Vinicius Jr strikes twice from the penalty spot as Madrid transfer provisionally above Barcelona, who play Girona on Monday.
Printed On 14 Feb 2026
Vinicius Junior scored two penalties as Actual Madrid moved high of La Liga with a 4-1 win over Real Sociedad, regardless of lacking celebrity Kylian Mbappe.
Mbappe watched from the substitutes’ bench on Saturday after lacking some group coaching classes throughout the week with discomfort in his left knee.
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Madrid coach Alvaro Arbeloa stated on Friday that he was in a position to play, however evidently, he didn’t need to rush his star goal-scorer.
Mbappe and Jude Bellingham, out with a hamstring harm, watched as Madrid produced an assured group efficiency to finish the guests’ 11-game unbeaten run throughout all competitions, and transfer two factors away from Barcelona earlier than the defending champions go to Girona on Monday.
Maybe Tuesday’s team dinner at a flowery restaurant paid for by Mbappe and Vinicius helped focus the gamers earlier than dealing with Benfica within the Champions League playoffs subsequent week.
Gonzalo Garcia opened the scoring with a slight contact to Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cross within the fifth minute. Nevertheless, it was to be a largely irritating recreation for the younger attacker, who did not make extra of different good alternatives.
Dean Huijsen conceded a penalty for bringing down Yangel Herrera, and Mikel Oyarzabal duly equalised from the spot with a tough, excessive, centrally-placed shot within the twenty first.
Referee Francisco Jose Hernandez Maeso awarded one other penalty on the different finish 4 minutes later, when Jon Aramburu caught Vinicius’s ankle, bringing him down. The Brazilian dusted himself off to attain from the spot within the twenty fifth minute.
Madrid captain Fede Valverde gratefully scored the third within the thirty first after being left an excessive amount of area on the fringe of the penalty field. It was Valverde’s first objective of the season.
Garcia ought to have scored once more earlier than the break, when Valverde set him up for what appeared like a easy tap-in, however Vinicius made it 4-1 together with his second spot kick after the break, awarded after Aramburu was once more penalised for bringing him down.
Dani Carvajal made his long-awaited return across the hour mark, when he changed Alexander-Arnold for his first league look since Madrid’s 2-1 loss to Barcelona in October.
Vinicius thought he had scored a hat-trick when he headed in a free kick within the ninetieth minute, just for it to be dominated out for offside.
Elsewhere in La Liga on Saturday, Borja Iglesias scored in stoppage time, after having one other seemingly good objective dominated out by VAR, to salvage a 2-2 draw for Celta Vigo at Espanyol.
A rueful Iglesias shook his head and smiled after having a 77th-minute objective disallowed when a protracted test decided there had been an offside infringement.
His frustrations grew when Ramon Terrats pulled the ball again for fellow substitute Tyrhys Dolan to attain what he thought was the winner for Espanyol within the 86th minute.
However Iglesias equalised within the third minute of stoppage time when Pablo Duran set him up together with his heel after a very good run from Sergio Carreira.
Espanyol remained sixth, and Celta some extent behind in seventh.
Additionally on Saturday, Getafe held on to upset visiting Villarreal 2-1, and the 10-man Sevilla drew with Alaves 1-1 in a duel between two strugglers.
