The Welsh winger scored along with Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo in the 5-1 win over Sporting, but went off with a calf problem and could be set for a spell on the sidelines.

Zinedine Zidane was clear from day one. For the new Real Madrid coach, Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo are non-negotiable. And two games in, the trio have hit all 10 goals in two big wins at the Bernabeu. Unfortunateley, two of them limped off with injuries against Sporting Gijon.

In his presentation as Madrid coach, Zidane refused to talk about invidual players. "All of them are important," he said. However, when asked whether the three members of the 'BBC' trident would all be in the team, he was categoric: "The three in attack will play," he said. "That's the idea."

Bale hit a hat-trick in Zidane's first game as coach last weekend, a 5-0 victory at home to Deportivo La Coruna in which Benzema netted the other two. Ronaldo, meanwhile, did not convert, but his coach said: "Cristiano can score in the next match."

And he did. Twice. The Portuguese netted his side's second with a fierce drive against Sporting after Bale had headed home the first, then slotted home another, while Benzema notched another double in an impressive performance in the opening half as Real raced into a 5-0 lead.

"The fact that they are scoring shows they are playing really well," Zidane said afterwards. "But it's not just the goals: I am really happy with their defensive work as well. I believe strongly in that: when we don't have the ball, we have to defend. All 11 of us."

That was always going to be the challenge, but the 43-year-old said recently that he wanted all 10 outfield players contributing with defensive duties. So far, so good.

This was all over rather soon, though. Sporting were three goals down inside 13 minutes and five behind at the break. Madrid's fans were in good voice, meanwhile, but Bale didn't reappear in the second half after suffering a calf injury and Benzema took a knock from his own team-mate, James Rodriguez, in the second period.

"Karim has a knock, I don't think it's more than that," Zidane said after the game. "Gareth's is more difficult because it's the calf, so we'll have to wait until the tests tomorrow."

The Welsh winger has twice injured his left calf at Madrid and Zidane mistakenly said that he had done so again, but in fact images showed that this time the 26-year-old had hurt his right leg.

In fantastic form over the past month or so, losing Bale for a few weeks now will be a blow to Zidane and also Madrid. Benzema, it seems, will be back soon enough though and the France forward earned more praise from his compatriot on Sunday.

"He is such an important player for us," Zidane said after the game. "He's impressive, not just because of the goals he scores but because of the way he links up with all of his team-mates."

With games against Betis, Espanyol and Granada ahead, Madrid should be able to do without Bale for a couple of weeks and there are unlikely to be any arrivals before transfer deadline day at the end of the month - even though the club have been banned by Fifa from registering players for the next two windows.

At the moment, Zidane seems happy with how his players are performing and he will be particularly pleased with the BBC, inconsistent last season but back on form over the last two games with 10 out of 10 goals in the Frenchman's first fixtures in charge.

Tougher tests than this will come of course and the calendar has been kind to Zidane so far, with two home games to start off with and some winnable fixtures ahead in the coming weeks, but everyone seems more in tune with the project and Ronaldo admitted afterwards that "there is more empathy" with Zidane than under his predecessor Rafa Benitez.

That is showing already and the form of front three is the best news of all for the new coach. Now he will hope the verdict on Bale's injury is also positive on Monday.