Dial 5 for Zinedine Zidane

Real welcome their most famous no. 5 and new coach with 5-0 win

Zinedine Zidane’s reign as Real Madrid boss got off to a flying start as Gareth Bale scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 thrashing of Deportivo la Coruna on Saturday.

Victory took Madrid back to within two points of Barcelona after the European champions cruised to a 4-0 win over Granada earlier in the day courtesy of a hat-trick from Lionel Messi.

Zidane was given a hero’s welcome after replacing the sacked Rafael Benitez earlier in the week and Madrid were rarely troubled after Karim Benzema gave the hosts the lead 15 minutes in.

Bale then took centre stage with his second hat-trick in four games before Benzema smashed home the fifth in stoppage time.

“Whenever you win you have to be happy,” said Zidane. “What I liked most was the attitude shown by the team. It is not easy to score five goals against a team like Deportivo la Coruna,” he added.

Despite awful weather conditions in the Spanish capital, Madrid were cheered on by a noticeably more enthused fan base than in Benitez’s ill-fated seven-month spell as Zidane's name was chanted even before kick-off.

Lucas Perez briefly threatened to spoil the party for Zidane when he was denied a 13th league goal of the season by a fine save from Keylor Navas.

Benzema then registered the first goal of the Zidane reign by flicking the ball home from close range despite strong claims from Deportivo that the Frenchman was offside.

Bale stooped to head home the second shortly after, and ended any hopes of a Deportivo fight back when he expertly slotted home Cristiano Ronaldo’s low cross four minutes after the break.

The Welshman met Toni Kroos’s corner with another towering header to complete his hat-trick before Benzema crashed home a loose ball off the underside of the bar to round off the scoring.

At the Camp Nou, Messi warmed up for his anticipated fifth World Player of the Year crown by scoring his first hat-trick of the season.