In the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Marco Asensio took the match upon themselves as the Welshman struck twice while the youngster scored a superb to make sure Real Madrid begins their 2016-17 La Liga campaign with a comfortable 3-0 win at Real Sociedad.
The Portugal star is still struggling with the knee injury he suffered in the Euro 2016 final, but Bale netted inside two minutes to calm any early nerves and the away side rarely looked like dropping points thereafter.
Asensio doubled their lead with an exquisite finish just before the break on his league debut for the club, justifying Zinedine Zidane’s decision to start him ahead of James Rodriguez and Isco.
Toni Kroos went close to adding a third when his volley crashed against the crossbar in the second half, with the home side showing no indication of salvaging a result and Bale rounded the keeper to wrap up the victory in stoppage-time.