Gareth Bale is loving life in Spain after further cementing his popularity with Real Madrid fans by recording his first hat-trick for the Bernabeu giants in Saturday’s emphatic 4-0 victory over struggling Real Valladolid.
After Madrid dominated the opening stages without finding a breakthrough, the Welshman opened the scoring just after the half-hour mark with a header, and then followed up with a pair of close-range finishes in the second half to take his La Liga goalscoring tally for the season to seven.
He also created the evening’s other goal, producing a beautifully flighted right-wing cross to tee up Karim Benzema, and found himself adorning the front pages of Spain’s national newspapers when he woke up yesterday morning.
Bale admitted that he was delighted to achieve his personal milestone by completing his hattrick from a Marcelo cross in the dying stages.
“I think as soon as I scored the second I was trying to get the third,” he beamed. “I was trying my hardest to get into positions and thankfully the move did work out. It was a great ball by Marcelo to put it on a plate for me.”
The Welshman endured a difficult start to his time in Spain after suffering a series of injuries at the start of the season, but following an upturn in form he couldn’t be more positive now.
“I’m very happy here,” he revealed. “Everything I hoped for has come true. The fans and the club are incredible. I needed time to adapt after not having a pre-season but I’m improving now.”
Bale was also keen to give credit to his teammates and didn’t forget to hail Cristiano Ronaldo, who missed the game against Valladolid with a minor thigh injury.
“My teammates have helped me to settle in straight away,” he said. “All the players, the coaching staff, everybody, have been excellent to me. They have made me feel very welcome and given me a lot of confidence.
“I feel part of the team and every game that we play I’m getting more used to it, and I’m enjoying my football.
“It was a massive blow not having Cristiano. For me, he is the world’s best player and we had to do a job without him. He definitely should be given the Ballon d’Or.”
Bale conducted his post-match interviews in English, but revealed that he is making progress with his attempts to pick up the native tongue. “I’m slowly learning my first foreign language but I’m not ready to use it yet,” he smiled.
“I’m working on it!”
Another player keen to stress his devotion to Madrid was defender Sergio Ramos, who had been linked with a move away from the Bernabeu after reportedly falling out with president Florentino Perez.
However, Ramos made a conciliatory gesture by presenting his shirt to Perez after the Valladolid game and insisted he wants to stay by saying: “I’m with the best club in the world, I feel privileged to be here and I’d retire here if it were up to me.”
Also, while Bale had been eager to talk up the blow of not having Ronaldo to call upon, defender Pepe saw the win as proof they can cope without the Portuguese superstar.
He said: “Cristiano is the best in the world and we need him but the rest of the team worked very well. “[Karim] Benzema, [Angel] Di Maria and Isco all had great games.
“We started very well in this game, pressing the opponents high up the pitch and making our job in defence much easier.
“We have very clear ideas, we are trying to do things well and the important thing is to continue this good form.”
And manager Carlo Ancelotti was keen to praise Xabi Alonso’s impact since returning from injury – adding that he is still unsure of his most potent starting XI.
“I don’t know if this was our best match so far, but we have to continue playing like this,” he said. “I don’t have a perfect line up, I have more than 11 players. The current formation is working well. Isco is comfortable & Xabi [Alonso]’s return gave us more quality.”
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