Real Madrid overcame Antonio Adan’s 6^th minute sending off to beat Real Sociedad 4-3 in a hectic evening at the Bernabeu on Sunday. Before the game, Real coach Jose Mourinho was audibly booed by the Bernabeu faithful for once again choosing to start Adan ahead of Real legend Iker Casillas.

Adan, who complained that the Spanish media has been disrespectful of him in describing the Real’s goalkeeping controversy, was shown a red card for taking down Sociedad forward Xabi Prieto inside the box shortly after Karim Benzema put Los Blancos into the lead. Casillas, who replaced his former understudy to a mixture of cheers and jeers, then had to pick the ball out of his own net as his first action of the game, Prieto making no mistake from the spot.

With the game tied 2-2 after goals from Sami Khedira and another from Prieto, Cristiano Ronaldo took control of the second half, pouncing on a Benzema through-ball to put Real into the lead after 68 minutes. Two minutes later, the Portuguese cracked a thunderbolt free-kick that bounced off the crossbar and Sociedad’s goalkeeper and into the back of the net to make it 4-2. With 15 minutes to play, Prieto completed his hat trick, but it would not be enough, as Real defended frantically to win 4-3.

Exciting win notwithstanding, Los Blancos are still 16 points behind La Liga leader Barcelona, which won 4-0 at home to Espanyol on Sunday.