Bale double helps Benitez to first Real win

Madrid, August 30

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 yesterday.

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. — AFP

Swansea end United unbeaten start

London: Swansea City came from behind to end Manchester United’s unbeaten start to the Premier League season with an impressive 2-1 victory at the Liberty Stadium on Sunday. After an entertaining first half ended goalless Juan Mata fired Luke Shaw’s teasing cross into the roof of the net in the 48th minute before Swansea took control. Andre Ayew restored parity with a headed effort 13 minutes later before Bafetimbi Gomis maintained his superb form with a low shot five minutes later as the Welsh side registered their third successive 2-1 league victory over United. — Reuters