Gareth Bale led Real Madrid to an easy 2-0 win over Getafe on Sunday in their first match of the La Liga season.
Real Madrid under coach Julen Lopategui is beginning to take form, with Costa Rica's Keylor Navas remaining in the goaltender role, despite the arrival of Thibaut Courtois to vie for that position, although the team does need to continue to produce positive results as they seek their desired rhythm, reports Efe news.
Courtois recently came from Chelsea on a 35 million euro ($40-million) deal after being voted the best netminder at the Russia World Cup in July.
Bale, however, seems to have taken on the task of leading the team with gusto, despite the departures of Ronaldo and former coach Zinedine Zidane earlier this summer.
This was Real Madrid's first La Liga matchup since losing Ronaldo to Juventus, and they had been downed by Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Supercup last week, but they seemed in top form on Sunday with tallies from Dani Carvajal in the 20th minute and Bale finding the twine in the 51st.
Bale was a key element in the set-up for Carvajal's header to get the Madrid squad on the board, and he scored his own tally after Marco Asensio swiped the ball and knocked an on-target crossing shot to the Welshman, who fired it into the net with his left foot.
The match was played before some 48,500 fans at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium here.
--IANS
kk/ksk
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)