La Liga: Kylian Mbappe's hat-trick leads Real Madrid to dominant 4-1 win over Sociedad as Mourinho gets first home win

Kylian Mbappe struck a hat-trick as Real Madrid began their LaLiga home campaign with a convincing 4-1 victory over Real Sociedad at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday.

Mbappe opened the scoring in the 40th minute, but Real Sociedad responded almost immediately, with Luka Sucic equalising four minutes later.

Mbappe restored Madrid’s advantage shortly after the hour mark before Vinicius Junior extended the lead in the 68th minute. The Frenchman then completed his hat-trick 10 minutes from full-time to seal a comfortable win.

Jose Mourinho makes winning return to Bernabeu

The result also marked a victorious return to the Bernabeu for Jose Mourinho, more than 13 years after his previous home game in charge of the club. Real Madrid endured an uneven first half before producing a much more clinical performance after the break.

Sections of the home crowd jeered the hosts before half-time following a slow start in which they lacked fluency, surrendered possession cheaply and were repeatedly exposed to Real Sociedad's counter-attacks.

"There's always a sense of justice in the boos and the applause, and the odd boo ​now and then doesn't do anyone any harm – it helps you grow," Mourinho told a press conference.

“We all know the ​Santiago Bernabeu and just how demanding the fans are there, and I'm very pleased with how my players responded under pressure and put in a great second half, in which we could even have scored more goals.”

Real Sociedad threaten Mbappe's opener

Real Sociedad carried the sharper threat early on and almost went ahead in ​the 10th minute when Take Kubo intercepted a loose pass near the edge of the box and slipped in Mikel ​Oyarzabal, whose close-range effort was kept out by Thibaut Courtois.

The visitors went close again in the 34th minute, Sergio Gomez flashing a fine ‌volley ⁠just wide of the far post, as the Bernabeu crowd began to voice its frustration.

Mbappe briefly changed the mood five minutes before halftime with a flash of class. Federico Valverde collected the ball just beyond midfield and split the defence with a superb pass, allowing Mbappe to surge into the box, cut left and lash a shot into the top corner.

But Real's defensive ​uncertainty returned four minutes later. ​Ibrahima Konate, Dean Huijsen ⁠and Alvaro Carreras were all caught out after Job Ochieng latched on to a long ball, his deflected effort falling to Luka Sucic on the right, who had time to steady ​himself and drill a low shot past Courtois.

Mourinho sent on Marc Cucurella at halftime and ​Madrid emerged transformed, ⁠with Vinicius Jr and Mbappe stretching the visitors with direct running and greater intensity.

The hosts regained the lead on the hour when Mbappe and Jude Bellingham exchanged a sharp one-two, leaving the France forward free inside the box to beat Alex Remiro with ⁠a low ​finish.

Eight minutes later, Bellingham's pressing won the ball back near the byline ​and his low cross gave Vinicius the simplest of tap-ins from close range.

Mbappe completed the win in the 80th minute after Vinicius slipped a clever pass ​behind the defence, the forward lifting a composed chip over Remiro to seal his hat-trick.

(With inputs from Reuters)