Gareth Bale ends Real Madrid goal drought

Garet Bale’s free-kick helped Real Madrid on their way to a 5-0 thrashing of bottom club Real Betis and saw the Welshman find the back of the net for the first time in almost two months.

The win takes Madrid to the summit of La Liga, level on points with Barcelona and Atletico Madrid who are both in action on Sunday against Levante and Sevilla respectively.

Fresh from his Ballon d’Or win, Cristiano Ronaldo continued his astounding form and fired home the opening goal from 20 yards for his 21 goal of the season in La Liga.

Former Tottenham player Luka Modric set up Karim Benzema to score his 100th goal for Madrid after Bale expertly curled in a free-kick. It was his first goal since November when he netted his first hat-trick for Madrid against Valladolid.

Angel di Maria then found the bottom corner from outside the box following a corner and Alvaro Morata, linked with a loan move to Premier League-leaders Arsenal, bundled home in stoppage time to round off the resounding win for Carlo Ancelotti’s side.

Los Blancos have now stretched their unbeaten run to 18 games in all competitions having not tasted defeat since their El Clasico loss to Barcelona in October.