Good afternoon and welcome to Eurosport's LIVE coverage of the Spanish Liga fixture between Celta Vigo and Real Madrid. We'll bring you all the action as it happens at Balaidos. Kick off is at 16:00 GMT.

Casemiro, Kroos and Modric all faced criticism last season, but they have played a good opening 20 minutes here. Real Madrid have a grip of things in the centre of the pitch right now.

Real Madrid look composed on the ball at the moment. Celta Vigo are not doing enough to press the opposition when they are out of possession. A bit too easy for the away side.

This has been a good start to this match from Real Madrid. They haven't exactly been rampant, but they have been in control and now have an early advantage to protect.

Now Bale is back making a defensive contribution to stop a Celta Vigo attack. The Welsh winger looks pumped up for this one and with good reason given the summer he has had.

The finish came from Benzema, but that opening Real Madrid goal was all about Bale. The cross from the Welsh winger was excellent, as was his dribble before getting the delivery in.

Celta Vigo are arguing that the referee should have awarded them a foul earlier in the move that led to the goal, but the man in the middle isn't having any of their protests. Real Madrid lead.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL! Celta Vigo 0 Real Madrid 1 (12 mins - Karim Benzema). It's an opener and it's Benzema who grabs it for Real Madrid! Bale twisted and turned down the left side and played a wonderful low cross for Benzema to finish on the slide! Real Madrid have the early lead on opening weekend at Balaidos!

This has been a solid start from Real Madrid, but they have yet to create an opening to break the deadlock. It looks like Vinicius is on the left side with Bale out on the right wing.

That's a rash tackle from Vazquez and he becomes the first player to enter the book.

Nice idea! Bale played a clipped, reverse pass in behind the Celta Vigo defence for Benzema to run on to, but the French striker couldn't stretch far enough to bring the ball down.

PICTURE: Bale warming up ahead of his surprise recall to the first team.

Real Madrid endured quite a difficult pre-season. They turned in a number of abject performances and even suffered a 7-3 defeat to rivals Atletico Madrid in New Jersey. Ouch.

It was revealed yesterday that Hazard had sustained an injury and so that is why Bale has been drafted into the Real Madrid starting lineup for this game. His Real career looked as good as over!

An early foul from Ramos and the season is well and truly under way. This is an opportunity for Celta Vigo to get a set piece delivery into the Real Madrid penalty area.

Around £400 million was spent on new signings over the summer by Real Madrid, but none of those new faces are in the team for this league opener. This is the same old team.

So what will the 2019/20 season bring for Real Madrid? There are several questions for Zidane to answer, but this is where the real stuff begins after the preparations of pre-season.

The match is under way! It's Celta Vigo against Real Madrid in this 2019/20 Liga season opener!