Ancelotti: Hat-trick hero Bale has fully adapted

The Italian coach was unable to call upon the services of La Liga top scorer and FIFA Ballon d'Or favourite Cristiano Ronaldo due to a thigh injury, but it did not matter as Bale was in sublime form.

After opening the scoring with a header, the Welshman assisted Karim Benzema with a brilliant cross for their second and grabbed Madrid's third just after the hour mark.

He completed his hat-trick in the 89th minute and Ancelotti reckons the "very confident" Wales star is completely immersed in the club after a settling-in period, before going on to praise Angel di Maria as well.

"As I mentioned before, Bale has fully adapted to the team," he said. "He has a lot of confidence and is very important for us. I think the team is well-balanced at the moment.

"We defended well tonight. It was a tough match for Valladolid. I don't know if this was our best match so far, but we have to continue playing like this.

"I think the current formation is working well. Isco is comfortable and Xabi's (Alonso) return gave us more quality.

"Di Maria's performance was fantastic. He was our most dangerous player and he adapts to different positions on the field."

Left-back Marcelo added that the main thing Real Madrid are concerned about is the result, but he was pleased they were also able to add a particularly impressive performance.

He added: "All matches are very difficult and the Valladolid has a great team. He has not left us play at the beginning, but then we managed to secure the defence, and offensively we were much better.

"Our first goal is the result, winning always either playing good or bad, but then we will give show to the fans and in the final matches are improving much. In addition we have let the goal to zero, which is very important for the team."