Ceballos piles misery on Bale

Ceballos was the hero as Real edged to a 2-1 victory over Alaves at the Mendizorrotza Stadium, with the former Real Betis man scoring both goals for Zinedine Zidane's side on his first start for the club since his summer move.

The goals made Ceballos an instant hero and also immediately took the 21-year-old level with Bale in the goalscoring charts.

The opening weeks of the new season have led many to question whether Bale still deserves to be an undisputed starter for 'Los Blancos' given the potential shown by both Isco and Marco Asensio in recent times.

Zidane, for his part, has always maintained that he has confidence in his misfiring 'BBC' strikeforce and the question marks over Bale will only intensify with the following statistic.

Ceballos now has the same number of goals as the Welshman, despite having played five times less minutes than the former Tottenham man.

The pair are tied on two goals for the season, though Ceballos' goals per minute record (a goal every 38 minutes), blows that of the 'Cardiff Express' out of the water (a goal every 197 minutes).

Despite this curious stat, the Real faithful is well aware that Zidane will continue to back Bale to return to his best form in the coming weeks, not that the regulars at the Barnabeu are holding their breath.