Bernabéu parties without Bale

REAL MADRID 4 - GETAFE 1

ISCO, CR7 AND DI MARÍA MAKE UP FOR FRUSTRATED DEBUT

On the day that the Bernabéu was denied the long-awaited debut of Gareth Bale, Real Madrid made up for it by giving the fans a footballing spectacle, with a comeback headed by Ronaldo, Isco and Di María. Getafe went one up on the 5th minute with a goal from Lafita, but Pepe, Cristiano Ronaldo (2) and Isco soon put paid to their neighbours' hopes of coming away the winners.

Initially, all eyes were on the Welsh wizard, but ended up fully focused on a spectacular Isco. The man from Malaga scored a scorcher of a goal, making it 3-1 with 30 minutes still to go. The player was the best in a Real Madrid that prefers "three passes instead of thirty", that continues without finding its style of play, but that has the customary awesome firepower to bring home the three points at the end of the day.

Ancelotti's men found their way to the goalmouth in the least orthodox way possible: a rebound from the goal-line that Pepe duly pushed back into the back of the net. The referee gave the half-time whistle with Real Madrid a goal ahead, thanks to a penalty expertly converted by Ronaldo.

After the break, Real Madrid played a tighter game, and improved on its playing in of the ball – thanks to an agile Isco that makes everything look easy, now with the always demanding Bernabéu at his feet.

Modric, who came on for Illarramendi, improved the Blancos' game, especially in the counter-attacks. Cristiano Ronaldo scored with a nice little flick of his heel in extra time. All in all, quite a party.

Bale errs on the side of caution.HE FELT SOME DISCOMFORT, THE EXTENT OF PROBLEM TO BE DETERMINED ON MONDAY

Gareth Bale followed Carlo Ancelotti's instructions to the letter. The coach was resting Ramos, Modric and Isco to distribute the workload and the Welshman asked not to play after feeling some discomfort during the warm up.

Gareth was down for the starting eleven, but on noticing a muscular twinge in one of his legs, he decided not to force it. As the Italian already had three key players on the bench, the logical solution was to declare him unfit and give his spot to another player.

With a run of matches every three days coming up, it was pointless to risk it. The medical team now need to identify the British player's complaint and assess whether he can play on Wednesday in Elche and, more importantly, in next Saturday's Bernabéu game against Atlético.

If it is confirmed, as seems likely, that Gareth Bale's injury is nothing serious and that his withdrawal from the line up was merely a precaution, his home debut will take place in the all-important derby clash.

Ancelotti made an on-the-spot decision, putting Isco into the starting eleven and adding Varane to the bench as a reserve.

Pepe served as Real Madrid's captain against Getafe, with Ramos on the reserves bench and Casillas out injured.