Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema looking liberated at Real Madrid as Cristiano Ronaldo struggles for goals in Serie A

Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema look like they are enjoying themselves again. For the past few years, the Welshman and the Frenchman have had to play second fiddle at Real Madrid to Cristiano Ronaldo. But the Portuguese is no longer around and everything is different now.

Ronaldo averaged 50 goals a season as a Madrid player and it was an unwritten rule that those alongside him in the attack would help him to score the goals. For the most part, it was a sensible strategy, too – one which brought four Champions League crowns in five seasons.

But following the departure of Cristiano to Juventus and the exit of coach Zinedine Zidane, this new Real was always set for a change of direction.

New boss Julen Lopetegui has altered the style and both Bale and Benzema are thriving in the collective improvement.

Last season, Benzema received severe criticism from the Madrid fans and also the press after scoring just five goals in 31 league appearances, while Bale endured another difficult campaign as he took time out with injuries once again. Both were unfairly blamed for Real’s struggles in La Liga.

The famous ‘BBC’ trio (Bale, Benzema, Cristiano) barely featured all together in the same side and when they did, the results were not always convincing. Madrid sports paper AS even began to refer to the trident as ‘bbC’, with the initials of the Welshman and the Frenchman in small letters. The point was clear.

Yet in the latter stages of the Champions League, Bale and Benzema shone. While Ronaldo did not net beyond the last eight, the Welsh winger came off the bench to score twice in the final against Liverpool including that wonderful overhead kick, while the French forward bagged the other, having also hit two in the vital 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich in the semi-final second leg.

It was perhaps a precursor for what was coming next. Because with Ronaldo gone, everyone wondered where the goals would come from. And so far, they are arriving from both Bale and Benzema.

Against Leganes at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday night, the pair looked liberated. Bale opened the scoring with a volley and he has now netted in each of his last seven league games, while Benzema made it 2-1 with a header and then added another with a spectacular shot from the edge of the area.

The French forward had scored against every team he had faced in La Liga bar one. Leganes. His brace on Saturday means he has converted past all 33 of the rivals he has played against in La Liga and Lopetegui’s associative brand of football is clearly right up his street.

Four goals in three games are proof of that. Freed from the shackles of having to provide for Ronaldo, operating as something of a domestique for the Portuguese, Benzema is doing exactly what was asked of him last season – he is scoring more goals.

And while Ronaldo’s exit has helped him in that respect, so too have Lopetegui’s tactics, the new Real coach having made Madrid much more creative and positive in a structured, possession-based philosophy which suits the Frenchman’s game perfectly.

Marco Asensio was impressive again as well and won a penalty (the third spot-kick he has forced in two games) which Sergio Ramos converted to make it 4-1 late on, Leganes earlier scoring from 12 yards themselves following a clumsy challenge by Casemiro.

But Bale and Benzema are the biggest beneficiaries. In the past four seasons, the two forwards had two, four, two and one goals combined at this stage of La Liga. Now, after just three games (and three wins), they have scored seven between them.

Those seven strikes have come from 16 attempts, while Ronaldo has had 17 shots for Juventus in his three games and has yet to score in Serie A.

So perhaps the time was right to sell Cristiano after all. Either way, his former attacking team-mates are certainly making sure he is not missed around these parts at the moment.