Monday 27 February 2017 20:49, UK
We take a look at why the return of Gareth Bale can give Real Madrid the edge on the rest of Europe.
Gareth Bale was back with a bang last week, scoring within 12 minutes of his return to the Real Madrid team after a three-month injury lay-off, and then getting another goal in the comeback win over Villarreal at the weekend.
He has certainly injected more life into the Madrid attack and that's exactly what was required. Perhaps Bale's return to the starting line-up can help Madrid dominate games and be more efficient too?
A look at Real Madrid's record with and without him tells the tale. Bale is now unbeaten in his last 27 starts for Madrid, dating back to April of last year. The end of the team's record-breaking unbeaten run coincided with his absence.
It's not difficult to see that he is a big influence. He had become their most important player before his injury - he brings goals, pace, power and variation to this Madrid team.
Zinedine Zidane's team are still top of La Liga but there have been a few issues lately.
For instance, Karim Benzema went six games without scoring recently - his worst run in over two years - and struggled again against Villarreal. That is putting too much responsibility once again on the shoulders of Cristiano Ronaldo.
While Bale was out, a lot of Real Madrid's attacking play depended on Ronaldo, as the shooting statistics suggest.
While Benzema averages 3.1 per 90 minutes, Bale is up at 4.1 - closer to Ronaldo's 5.9 shots per 90 minutes. And shots lead to goals.
Madrid average a goal every 31 minutes with Bale in the team compared to every 40 minutes without him.
That's partly because Bale is well suited to their game. It is not just his pace. In particular, Zidane knows the value of set pieces and crosses with Madrid scoring more headers than any other team in La Liga over the past two seasons.
There were two more in the win over Villarreal on Sunday with Bale scoring his 12th headed goal in La Liga in this period.
Ronaldo is next on the list with eight and Sergio Ramos has scored six. No team can better that. Those three pose the game's most formidable threat from set-plays and it can get Madrid out of trouble in key moments.
But it is about more than Bale's goals, it is what he brings to the game of others too. He can help his team-mates play better.
In the match before his injury, the 3-0 win away to Atletico Madrid, he laid on the hat-trick goal for Ronaldo. It was a great example of how the two men now complement each other perfectly. Finally Ronaldo accepts that the Welshman deserves a bigger role than just the one of a winger.
Another skill that Bale brings to the team is his ability to run with the ball and drive at opposition defences.
Ronaldo is no longer the dribbler of old. But while his numbers decrease year after year, Madrid still need that player who can carry the ball.
Bale, more than four years younger than Ronaldo, is the one who can still do that.
Ronaldo now averages two dribbles per 90 minutes in La Liga this season, but Bale's numbers are still up there. He averages 3.6 dribbles per 90 minutes in La Liga. By comparison, none of Madrid's line-up for the recent Champions League game against Napoli average more than three.
Bale can give Madrid their edge and he solves a lot of their problems. That's bad news for Las Palmas on Wednesday and worse news for their La Liga title rivals. He can help Madrid to reach an extra level in a crucial part of the season.
Who knows, maybe it could even see them become the first back-to-back European Cup winners of the Champions League era.
