Real Madrid lost some ground on LaLiga leaders FC Barcelona after a goalless draw against Real Sociedad on Sunday evening.
Madrid started Dani Ceballos in place of Luka Modric, while Rodrygo was also rewarded with a start after his impressive cameo off the bench against Atletico Madrid.
Los Blancos were close to taking the lead on 14 minutes after Vinicius Junior stepped inside from a tight angle in the area before curling narrowly wide of the far post.
The visitors replied three minutes later when a loose clearance from Toni Kroos opened up a chance for Asier Illarramendi to drop in space before seeing his effort crash against the post.
Sociedad closed down from the front and gave Los Blancos a lot of work to move around the low-block to allocate the third-man runs of Rodrygo, Vinicius and Karim Benzema.
Los Blancos still carved out chances before the break and a quick move on the break saw Vinicius denied by a point-blank save from goalkeeper Alex Remiro.
The visitors opted for a change at the start of the second half, as Diego Rico came on for Aihen Munoz, while Los Blancos were unchanged at this point.
Madrid did all the attacking early in the second half and closed in with a low shot from a tight angle by Vinicius which Remiro beat away before Valverde’s rasping strike deflected out for a corner.
The travelling side regained momentum and threatened around 60 minutes when Takefusa Kubo cut in from the right and forced a low save out of Real shot-stopper Thibaut Courtois with a curling strike.
Remiro, though, denied the host again after ten minutes with a point-blank stop from Vinicius’ cleverly worked effort in the area.
Los Blancos applied all the pressure towards full-time, but the visitors sat deep and claimed a crucial point which denied Madrid the chance to close the gap on the table-toppers Barcelona.
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