Bale double helps Benitez to first Madrid win
Gareth Bale silenced his critics by scoring twice as Rafael Benitez
got his first win as Real Madrid coach with a 5-0 thrashing of Real
Betis.
Madrid remain two points behind Barcelona as Thomas Vermaelen was the
unlikely hero for the European champions as they overcame stiff
resistence from Malaga to win 1-0 at the Camp Nou.
Benitez’s men had been held to an embarrassing 0-0 draw by newly
promoted Sporting Gijon last weekend, but there was to be no repeat as
Bale headed home James Rodriguez’s cross inside two minutes.
Rodriguez then fired an audacious free-kick from a narrow angle into
the far corner of the net to double the advantage seven minutes before
the break.
Bale turned provider at the start of the second period for Karim
Benzema to head home the third before Rodriguez produced another
spectacular effort with an overhead kick to make it 4-0.
Betis had a great opportunity to at least mark their visit to the
Bernabeu with a consolation when Raphael Varane was penalised for
upending Jorge Molina.
However, Keylor Navas made the most of his opportunity despite the
ongoing speculation that Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea could
join Madrid in the coming days by diving low to his left to save Ruben
Castro’s penalty.
And Bale had the final word with a fierce left-footed effort that clipped the post on its way into the net.
At the Camp Nou, Vermaelen succeeded where Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez
and Neymar failed as he fired the only goal of the game past the
excellent Carlos Kameni 18 minutes from time.
The Belgian defender endured a nightmare debut campaign with the
Catalans last season despite being part of a treble winning squad as he
was perennially sidelined by injury.
“It is a great reward for him for the fight he had last year,” said Barca defender Javier Mascherano.
“I am happy for him because last year he couldn’t show his best football.
“The goals from the front three will come The team generated a lot of chances, but we didn’t have much luck.”
Neymar was starting for the first time this season after overcoming a
bout of the mumps as he was reunited with Messi and Suarez up front.
Suarez was the first to have the ball in the net after just four
minutes, but his headed effort was ruled out for a foul beforehand by
the Uruguayan.
Malaga had stunned the Camp Nou with a 1-0 victory last season and
they came within inches of taking the lead in extraordinary style as
Juan Carlos’s effort from 60 yards flew just inches over the stranded
Claudio Bravo’s goal.
Mascherano came close to being the unlikely man to break the deadlock when he headed against the crossbar moments later.
The home fans were then incensed as referee Santiago Jaime Latre
turned down two strong penalty shouts as Miguel Torres appeared to
handle the ball inside the area before Marcos Angeleri brought down
Suarez.
Kameni then produced a trio of fine saves to deny Messi after the
break as the European champions continued to be frustrated in front of
goal.
Yet, for all his good work, Kameni was partly at fault for the goal
as he could only parry Suarez’s cross from the left and the ball fell
invitingly for Vermaelen to fire home from close range.
Elsewhere, Celta Vigo went top of the table as Nolito scored twice in a 3-0 win over 10-man Rayo Vallecano.
David Moyes’s Real Sociedad failed to find the net for a second
consecutive game, though, as they played out a 0-0 draw with Sporting
Gijon.