Gareth Bale's Injury and Other Takeaways from Real Madrid's Rout of Sporting

Abelardo's warning had been clear. "Madrid need to have a horrible day," the Sporting Gijon manager had said of his team's chances at the Bernabeu. "Depor did really well, they enjoyed a lot of possession... and conceded five goals."

Less than 24 hours after those words had left his mouth, his team had conceded five as well. But the difference was that his team hadn't done really well; for 18 minutes at the Bernabeu on Sunday, Sporting were a mess, and those 18 minutes were all Real Madrid needed to complete a bulldozing on par with anything seen this season. By the time the fifth goal had gone in, only 41 minutes were up on the clock; Depor at least had reached the 91st before that happened. 

"We let them play much too comfortably," conceded Abelardo afterwards, per ESPN FC's Dermot Corrigan. 

That was true, but the damage inflicted by Real Madrid was also extraordinary. With yet another header, Gareth Bale opened the scoring; Cristiano Ronaldo added the next with a ferocious thump; Karim Benzema got acrobatic for the third; Luka Modric, Dani Carvajal and Isco combined beautifully for the fourth; Isco put together the beginning for a new video compilation to create the fifth. 

"The first half was spectacular," said manager Zinedine Zidane later on. Club director Emilio Butragueno called it "a festival of football."

He was right, too. 

Suddenly, Real Madrid look like a different animal. Just two games into Zidane's reign, Los Blancos look refreshed and vibrant, their energy infectious. Sterner tests await, yes, but the change in mood is significant, the contrast extreme. 

"We identify more with Zidane," said Ronaldo on Sunday. "We understand better what Zidane wants from us," added Isco. When Marcelo was quizzed on the camp being happier, his response said it all: "Ya, it's true."

Cruel Timing

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Come on, not now. 

When Bale limped off the pitch with an apparent calf injury on Sunday, the timing felt brutally cruel for the Welshman. In the seventh minute against Sporting, he opened the scoring; in the ninth, his pressure forced the turnover for the second; in the 12th, he made the assist for the third. 

It was vintage Bale. In fact, it was the sort of Bale we've seen for a number of weeks now. 

Indeed, his goal and assist on Sunday took his respective tallies to nine and three in his last five games, and 11 and five in his last nine. Included in that run are two hat-tricks.

Never before has Bale been this good or consistent for Real Madrid. This is the dominance his talent had often promised but never truly delivered until now. 

With 13 goals in the league, he's well and truly in the hunt for the Pichichi. With eight assists, he's the league's second most prolific creator, too. 

And now this. 

The timing couldn't be worse.

Ignore the Price Tags

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It was the aftermath of the Clasico on November 21, a Clasico in which Barcelona had mesmerised Real Madrid and in which Neymar had mesmerised Danilo. Neymar hadn't been the first to do so either. Before him, Sevilla's Yevhen Konoplyanka had done the same. So too had Celta Vigo's Nolito. So too had Paris Saint-Germain's Maxwell. 

"No sign of the full-back who cost €30 million," said Marca. 

When Madrid spent that sum on Danilo—€31.5 million, in fact—it immediately struck as a bizarre piece of business. For a player who had only 12 months remaining on his contract at Porto, it was a colossal sum. For a player not guaranteed to start, it was even more so. "He solves a problem that does not exist," said AS, which was true. Worse, though, was that he created one, his price tag carrying an implied political pressure for him to play despite his performances failing to justify his place. 

Zidane, however, doesn't appear phased by that price tag; in two straight games thus far, he's gone with Carvajal instead and has reaped the benefits for doing so. 

On Sunday, the right-back who'd thrived under Carlo Ancelotti was outstanding again, destroying Sporting down the right flank with his powerful running and precise delivery in a blistering first-half performance. Yet, it's at the other end of the pitch where Carvajal's superiority over Danilo is even more evident. 

Unlike the Brazilian, the Spaniard is excellent at tracking runners, recovering quickly, breaking up attacks and denying his direct opponent space. Against Sporting, he made five interceptions, three clearances, two tackles and one assist, per WhoScored.com. Against Deportivo La Coruna a week earlier, it was the same story. 

Ignoring the price tags is the way to go. 

Isco Disco

We all knew what he can do. 

Now he's doing it again.