Bale Claims Ronlado’s Place

Gareth Bale staked early claim for Ronaldo’s Real Madrid mantle after netting the opening goal for the Real Madrid game with Getafe.

Bale opened the scoring in each of the last three La Liga seasons, but ultimately every time he played a supporting role in Cristiano Ronaldo’s show, Reuters reported.

Now the Portuguese forward, Real’s all-time top scorer, has left to join Juventus, the onus is on the 29-year-old to be the leader in attack.

With a little help from the Welshman it was Dani Carvajal who headed home to send Madrid ahead, the warm-up act as Bale added the second in a 2-0 win over Getafe.

Having helped create the first goal and convert the second to get new coach Julen Lopetegui’s debut La Liga campaign off to a winning start, comparisons to Ronaldo were natural.  However, this was the first league game since Ronaldo departed and also saw Madrid record their lowest attendance since before the Portuguese arrived in 2009.

On Sunday 48,466 fans were present, barely filling half of the 90,000 capacity, the lowest number since May 24, 2009 when 44,270 attended a 3-1 home defeat by Real Mallorca. Ronaldo’s presence at the Bernabeu was undoubtedly a draw and, without signing a replacement, Madrid are depending on Bale to become the team’s new talisman who has the pulling power to draw in the masses and fire the team to glory.