April 5th, Anoeta Stadium.
La Liga's thirty-second round saw Real Madrid visit Real Sociedad.
Having just fought a grueling battle against Dortmund in midweek, Real Madrid rotated the squad for this match. Yang Yang still started, but he was tightly marked by Real Sociedad and failed to put in an ideal performance.
The biggest highlight of the first half came in the forty-fifth minute. Di Maria chipped the ball into the box from the left, and Yang Yang turned sideways and unleashed a volley, only for goalkeeper Bravo to make a desperate save. Illarramendi then fired home from the edge of the box, opening the scoring for Real Madrid.
After the teams switched sides, Real Madrid continued to maintain fierce pressure on Real Sociedad. In the sixty-sixth minute, Xabi Alonso chipped the ball into the box, but goalkeeper Bravo rushed out and caught it. However, when Real Sociedad's goalkeeper launched a long clearance, he was disrupted by Yang Yang and made an astonishing mistake. Yang Yang seized the ball and calmly rolled it into the empty net. Two-nil.
In the eighty-fifth minute, Di Maria chipped the ball into the box, and Yang Yang swept it home from in front of goal, adding another for Real Madrid. Three-nil.
Just three minutes later, Di Maria sent another through ball forward. Yang Yang dribbled to near the penalty spot and calmly finished one-on-one, completing his hat-trick and helping Real Madrid crush Real Sociedad four-nil.
Real Madrid had crushed Real Sociedad four-nil away from home, while Barcelona defeated Real Betis three-one at home with a brace from Messi. However, Cristiano Ronaldo continued to struggle.
This had become the biggest mystery puzzling outsiders: Why could Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo never seem to coexist? Why was one always in outstanding form while the other struggled?