The Bernabeu faithful paid tribute before kick-off to Real Madrid’s all-time most successful player and manager, with Luka Modric (28 trophies) and Ancelotti (15) both to leave the club this summer.
However, it was straight down to business for Kylian Mbappé, who was desperate to pip Sporting CP’s Viktor Gyokeres to the European Golden Boot, but he found himself denied by Unai Marrero with his first effort of the game.
Also with relatively little to play for on the final day, Sociedad were still motivated to finish inside the top half for a seventh season in a row, though Sergio Gomez couldn’t beat Andriy Lunin one-on-one.
Mbappe then blazed over after again being fed by the influential Arda Guler, before Marrero did well to stop Federico Valverde’s effort.
But Pablo Marin gave away a penalty for the visitors when shielding his face from the ball in the run-up to half-time, and Mbappé stepped up to get his 30th league goal of the season on the rebound after Marrero had saved his initial spot-kick.
Aside from the early chance for Gómez, Sociedad had shown very little attacking ambition, something which didn’t change much after the interval. Instead, Mbappé searched for another which would effectively knock Mohamed Salah out of the Golden Boot race, but it wasn’t immediately forthcoming.
That was partly because Marrero remained on such good form, but Sociedad’s stand-in stopper was finally beaten again in the 83rd minute when substitute Vinícius Júnior found Mbappé on the overlap, and the Frenchman slotted inside the near post.
The final minutes were something of a parade, with a guard of honour being performed during play when Modrić was substituted for Los Blancos for the last time.
And the final whistle brought even more tears, with Ancelotti and Lucas Vázquez also saying goodbye to Real Madrid, while Imanol Alguacil ended his almost seven-year tenure in the Sociedad dugout and Mario Melero Lopez retired after a 10-year stint as a La Liga referee.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Unai Marrero (Real Sociedad)