A healthy Gareth Bale warned the Primera Liga that he is still improving after scoring his first treble for Real Madrid.
The Welshman netted with his head, and each foot in Saturday’s 4-0 win over Real Valladolid, with injured teammate Cristiano Ronaldo watching on.
The Welshman also set up the other goal for Karim Benzema with a super cross, completing his most-impressive performance since his headline-grabbing summer move from Tottenham Hotspur.
Bale said on the club website: “My teammates congratulated me for the match. It’s always a pleasure to score, but even more so when you can score a hat-trick in the Santiago Bernabeu.
“I’m very happy here. I needed time to adapt after not having a pre-season, but I’m improving now. Everything I hoped for has come true. The fans and the club are incredible.
“I scored three goals, but I hope to do better. I can do it. I want to keep improving and working hard during the matches and training sessions and learn from the best, like Cristiano Ronaldo. He’s the best player in the world and he deserves the Ballon d’Or.”
Bale is getting comfortable in his new surroundings in Madrid.
“I’m slowly learning my first foreign language, but I’m not ready to use it yet,” he said. “I’m working on it a lot off the pitch.”
Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti claimed that Bale, who now has nine goals for the capital club, has now fully settled in.
“I think his period of adaptation is over,” the manager said. “He is doing well, he is confident and is very important for us. He did very well.”
While Bale took the limelight with the goals, Ancelotti made a point to hail the performance of Angel Di Maria.
The coach said of the Argentine: “Di Maria’s performance was fantastic. He was our most dangerous player and he adapts to different positions on the field.
“I don’t know if this was our best match so far, but we have to continue playing like this. “
Bale’s display helped make light of Ronaldo’s absence with a hamstring injury. But there was no doubt that the Portuguese was still top dog at the Bernabeu.
“There is no need to compare them, Cristiano is above the rest of the players and everyone in the team knows that,” full-back Marcelo said. “Bale is a great player and is doing well.”
The victory, Madrid’s fourth on in a row in all competitions, was not enough to move them up from third in the league table, with Atletico Madrid also winning, 2-0 at Elche.
But the result moved them to within three points of Barcelona, though the league leaders were in action last night at Athletic Bilbao.
