Rodriguez wonder strikes, Bale brace help Real Madrid ransack Real Betis

Critics lambasted Real Madrid for being too defensive-minded in its La Liga opener.

It would appear James Rodriguez and Gareth Bale heard them.

Rodriguez scored a pair of showstopping strikes and Bale also bagged a brace as Real Madrid belted Real Betis 5-0 on Saturday at the Bernabeu.

Facing a second newly promoted side in as many weeks, Real Madrid needed a convincing victory to avoid more unwanted attention. The team that looked so oddly conservative last week at Sporting Gijon was nowhere to be found against Real Betis.

Bale and Rodriguez wasted little time in helping get Real Madrid on the board. Inside of two minutes, Rodriguez dropped a perfectly placed left-footed cross into the box, where the Welshman’s header put Real Madrid ahead.

In the 39th minute, Rodriguez got on the score sheet himself with this laser free kick from the right side:

After Bale set up a Karim Benzema header to make it 3-0, Rodriguez scored again in the 50th minute, this time with a bicycle kick in the box:

Bale polished off the one-sided affair in the 89th minute with an eye-popping long-range effort that snuck inside the left post:

Real Betis managed little in the way of offense. Its best chance came after a questionable penalty whistled against Real Madrid’s Raphael Varane around the hour mark, but goalkeeper Keylor Navas stonewalled Ruben Castro’s tame effort from the spot:

For the time being, the pressure is off manager Rafa Benitez and his Real Madrid side, which is once again expected to challenge for La Liga and European supremacy.

The squad that manhandled Real Betis certainly looked capable of doing just that.