Madrid, August 30

Gareth Bale silenced his critics by scoring twice as Rafael Benitez got his first win as Real Madrid coach with a 5-0 thrashing of Real Betis.

Madrid remain two points behind Barcelona as Thomas Vermaelen was the unlikely hero for the European champions as they overcame stiff resistance from Malaga to win 1-0 at the Camp Nou.

Benitez’s men had been held to an embarrassing 0-0 draw by newly promoted Sporting Gijon last weekend, but there was to be no repeat as Bale headed home James Rodriguez’s cross inside two minutes. Rodriguez then fired an audacious free-kick from a narrow angle into the far corner of the net to double the advantage seven minutes before the break.

Bale turned provider at the start of the second period for Karim Benzema to head home the third before Rodriguez produced another spectacular effort with an overhead kick.

Betis had a great opportunity to at least mark their visit to the Bernabeu with a consolation when Raphael Varane was penalised for upending Jorge Molina. However, Keylor Navas dived low to his left to save Ruben Castro’s penalty. And Bale had the final word with a fierce left-footed effort that clipped the post on its way into the net.

At the Camp Nou, Vermaelen succeeded where Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar failed as he fired the only goal of the game past the excellent Carlos Kameni 18 minutes from time.

Neymar was starting for the first time this season after overcoming a bout of the mumps as he was reunited with Messi and Suarez up front. Suarez was the first to have the ball in the net after just four minutes, but his headed effort was ruled out for a foul beforehand.

Malaga came within inches of taking the lead in extraordinary style as Juan Carlos’ effort from 60 yards flew just inches over the stranded Claudio Bravo’s goal. Barca defender Javier Mascherano came close to being the unlikely man to break the deadlock when he headed against the crossbar moments later.

The home fans were then incensed as referee Santiago Jaime Latre turned down two strong penalty shouts as Miguel Torres appeared to handle the ball inside the area before Marcos Angeleri brought down Suarez.

Kameni was partly at fault for the goal as he could only parry Suarez’s cross and the ball fell invitingly for Vermaelen to fire home from close range.

Elsewhere, Celta Vigo went top of the table as Nolito scored twice in a 3-0 win over 10-man Rayo Vallecano. David Moyes’ Real Sociedad played a 0-0 draw with Sporting Gijon, their second consecutive goalless draw.