Gareth Bale bags four goals as Real Madrid dismantle Rayo Vallecano 10-2 at Bernabéu Stadium
The Wales star was in scintillating form in front of goal as Los Blancos thrashed nine-man Rayo in ruthless fashion.
Gareth Bale scored scored four as Real Madrid hammered nine-man Rayo Vallecano 10-2 at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium on Sunday.
It was his first hat-trick for Los Blancos since 2013 when he got three against Real Valladolid and was perfectly timed amid talk that president Florentino Pérez was looking for more from the Wales talisman when playing in a white shirt.
Bale headed in to bring Real back level at 2-2 in the 25th minute before racing clear and stroking the ball into the bottom right-hand corner to make it 4-2 at half-time.
He completed his hat-trick just after the hour mark after Cristiano Ronaldo's centre to make it 7-2 before dancing his way through and tapping in on 70 minutes for a personal haul of four.
The 26-year-old was withdrawn for Alvaro Arbeloa in the 74th minute and received a standing ovation from the home faithful.
In a remarkable match, Real went in front after three minutes courtesy of a Danilo strike before Rayo took the lead following two goals in as many minutes from Amaya and Jozabed.
Things unravelled though when the away side had two men sent off either side of Bale's first goal and Rafa Benitez's side showed no mercy as they went on to rack up a huge score.
Bale's starring role came after comments from Real president Perez that said he needed to rediscover the form he showed when he first moved to the Spanish capital.
Perez was reported to have said: "Bale is a magnificent player but if the general level drops Bale also drops."
"He and everyone had a level of intensity two years ago that they don’t have now and we have to recover that."
His four goals against Rayo doubled his tally in the league this season and made it 10 goals in 17 games in all competitions, including Wales internationals.