Midweek games at the Bernabeu against mid table opposition tend to follow a pattern. Real Madrid get on top early, the visitors sit deep, and the question becomes how long the resistance lasts rather than who wins. Madrid arrive off a 2-1 win over Espanyol, so the machine is not purring yet, but the underlying gap in this fixture is enormous. Across 92 meetings at home with Real Sociedad, Madrid have won 66 of them. The visitors are the bigger concern from a backing point of view. Real Sociedad turned up in Seville last Friday and lost 1-0 to Betis without ever really threatening, and their attack has looked short of ideas in the opening weeks. A side that struggles to score is a side that eventually has to chase, and chasing at the Bernabeu is how one goal defeats become two or three goal defeats. Taking the quarter line rather than the flat handicap is the compromise here. A two goal win pays in full, a one goal win only costs half, and that cushion matters in a fixture where Madrid have been winning without being at their most convincing. Backing them straight up gives away far too much price for what is essentially the same opinion.