Gareth Bale got Zinedine Zidane’s managerial adventure off to a flying start with a hat-trick to dispose of Deportivo La Coruna.

Karim Benzema netted the first and last, with Bale’s treble sandwiched in between, and Los Blancos delivered an assured all-round performance to restore some positivity around the Bernabeu following the turmoil of the last few weeks.

Zidane set out his team in a new-look 4-2-3-1 formation, with Isco in an attacking midfield position, while Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo lined up on the wings.

And they immediately looked more composed in possession than in recent weeks, with Ronaldo forcing an early save from visiting goalkeeper German Lux.

Deportivo were also confident coming forward, but Madrid got the breakthrough as Benzema grabbed the first goal of the Zidane era by flicking home a drive from Sergio Ramos following a corner, leaving the visiting defenders appealing for an offside flag which should never have been raised.

Deportivo continued to threaten, with a dangerous cross flashing just beyond the lurking Perez, but Los Blancos soon earned a more comfortable cushion as Bale added to his growing repertoire of excellent headed goals by meeting a right-wing cross from Dani Carvajal and nodding firmly past Lux.

That meant Ronaldo was the only member of the ‘BBC’ frontline still waiting for a goal under the new boss, and the Portuguese ace nearly had it when he cut inside from the left and flashed a fierce low strike inches wide of the far post.

Ronaldo was frustrated again just before the break, when Bale delivered a neat dinked cross perfectly into the path of his onrushing teammate, whose header hit the left upright and bounced to safety.

The outcome was put beyond doubt early in the second period when Bale ran onto a low cross from Ronaldo and classily opened up his body to sidefoot a perfectly placed strike into the right corner.

And before long Bale completed his hat-trick with another fine header, thundering home an outswinging corner from Kroos to register his second treble in his team’s last three home games.

Deportivo continued to compete and nearly grabbed a consolation when Navas did well to claw aside a long-range bullet from Alberto.

And the scoring was rounded off in stoppage time when Ronaldo was foiled only for the loose ball to be crashed high into the net by Benzema.