Bale hits four as Real crush nine-man Rayo 10-2

Real Madrid trashed Rayo Vallecano at the Santiago Bernabeu as the visitors were down to nine men since the 29th minute.

The Welsh winger was the star of the show for Los Blancos against Rayo Vallecano, netting FOUR times to help his side to a stunning 10-2 victory.

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.

Eleven minutes after Cristiano Ronaldo had converted the penalty, Bale raced through and beat the keeper with a composed finish to make it 4-2 just before half-time. There was still time for Benzema to boost his scoring statistics, feeding off assists from Croatian duo, Modric and Matteo Kovacic, late on.

The pressure appeared to be building on boss Rafael Benitez early on when the hosts trailed 2-1 against a side sitting in the relegation zone.

Madrid are now within two points of champions Barcelona, who wrapped up Club World Cup glory in Japan earlier on Sunday, but the freaky nature of this rout is unlikely to bring many Benitez doubters onside. And before half-time the match was effectively ended as a contest when Bale ran onto James Rodriguez’s pass before drilling home a low shot.

Yoel was out sharply to deny Ronaldo in the 50th minute but his was a thankless task and there was nothing he could do when the Portuguese superstar firmly nodded James’ left-wing cross into the net.

Ronaldo, denied by a fine save from Yoel minutes after Benzema’s goal, eventually added his second in the 54th minute when he headed in completely unmarked from Rodriguez’s cross. The Portugal forward set up Bale for his hat-trick in the 61st and the Wales global completed his first four-goal haul with a 70th-minute tap-in to double his La Liga goals tally for the season to eight. They were again whistled by some disgruntled home fans after they fell 2-1 behind following a Danilo effort that put them 1-0 ahead in the third minute.