The first real effort at goal came from the home side. It was from range and more hopeful than anything else from Jaime Seoane. Even so, it had Thibaut Courtois worried, diving to his right and ultimately grateful that it bounced wide.
Real did well in tight space on the edge of the Huesca box to get the ball to Karim Benzema, who fed on to the onrushing Vinicius Junior. He weaved past one man in the box but a heavy touch allowed Alvaro Fernandez to dart out and claim at his feet.
In the 25th minute, Vinicius Jr had the beating of his man down the left again to latch on to a good ball forward, but his chip over Fernandez drifted just past the far post.
Ten minutes before the interval, Luka Modric whipped out a neat little flick with his instep to release Karim Benzema, who looked for the far corner with a curling shot but failed to find it because of a diving save by Fernandez.
Real nearly made the perfect start to the second half. They sprayed the ball right to left to release Pablo Maffeo and his cross was flicked towards goal by Mikel Rico and on to the top of the bar and over.
Huesca had come out swinging, just as they did in the first half, and they were rewarded through a stunning opener. Shinji Okozaki got away down the right into acres of space and played a square-ball across to Javi Galan, who took a touch and then lashed a shot off the far post and in.
Soon after, Huesca almost made it two. Rafa Mir was in so much space in the box and was found with a cross from the left, but his shot on the volley cannoned off the bar and flew over.
Raphael Varane equalised for Los Blancos in the 55th minute. Benzema took the free-kick and banged it against the bar. The ball looped up and came down just a few yards away from the goal-line, allowing Rafael Varane to rise and nod in.
Real restored their lead in the 84th minute. It all came from another free-kick that Toni Kroos floated to the back post for Casemiro to head an effort that Fernandez was able to dive and save but only push straight to Varane to finish off on the rebound as Zinedine Zidane's side came away with the three points.