James Rodríguez scored first after a long pass from Bale was tapped back to Rodríguez by Cristiano Ronaldo in the 12th minute at Santiago Bernabéu.
Bale made it 2-0 in the 28th when Espanyol goalkeeper Kiko Casilla could only watch Bale’s left-foot free kick rifle in off the post.
Madrid played with 10 men from the 53rd minute after Fábio Coentrão drew a direct red card for a low tackle, but the difference was unnoticeable, and the substitute Nacho Fernández scored in the 76th with Espanyol in disarray.
Madrid’s comfortable victory came after its Spanish record 22-win streak ended with losses at Valencia in the league and Atlético Madrid in the Copa del Rey.
Madrid built a 4-point lead over Barcelona and Atlético, the defending champion, which visits Barcelona’s Camp Nou on Sunday.
Elsewhere, Valencia drew, 1-1, at Celta Vigo, while Villarreal drew, 1-1, at Malaga.
Eibar also continued to impress in its first season in the top league with a 2-1 win over Getafe at home as it consolidated its hold on eighth place.
Madrid hosts Atlético on Thursday needing to overturn a 2-0 first-leg defeat to keep alive its defense of the Copa del Rey title.
SASSUOLO DRAWS Sassuolo drew 1-1 at home to Udinese in the Italian league as it failed to build on Tuesday’s victory at A.C. Milan.
Sassuolo took the lead in the 14th minute as Simone Zaza got above his marker to head in Sime Vrsaljko’s cross from the right.
Udinese was struggling with injury absentees, including the star striker Antonio Di Natale, who had flulike symptoms, and it was hit by another blow when Alexander Geijo limped off with a hamstring problem.
However, Udinese leveled when Cyril Théréau controlled Allan’s pass before firing a low effort into the bottom far corner.
P.S.G. SQUANDERS LEAD Paris Saint-Germain’s defensive liabilities were exposed again in a 4-2 defeat at Bastia after P.S.G. led by 2-0 inside 20 minutes.
Paris Saint-Germain has failed to win any of its past three league games, losing two and drawing one.
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Paris Saint-Germain missed out on a chance to close the gap on the league leader Marseille, which lost, 2-1, at Montpellier on Friday. This latest sloppy performance increased the pressure on Manager Laurent Blanc ahead of Tuesday’s League Cup quarterfinal at Saint-Étienne.
“The team forgot certain things, let certain things go in the last 5 minutes of the first half,” Blanc said. “Maybe we thought the match was easy. You have to respect these teams. We showed a lack of respect toward this Bastia team after the first 35 minutes and they made us pay.”
CHINA WINS AT ASIA CUP Wang Dalei had double cause for celebration as he produced a crucial save that helped China open the Asian Cup with a 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia in Brisbane, Australia, on his 26th birthday.
Yu Hai’s late deflected free kick broke the deadlock after Wang saved Naif Hazazi’s penalty attempt in the 61st minute, giving China a share of the top spot in Group B with Uzbekistan.
In Sydney, Igor Sergeev headed in the only goal during a rain-sodden second half to give Uzbekistan a 1-0 win over North Korea in the opening Group B match at the Asian Cup.
WOLFSBURG PLAYER DIES The police in Wolfsburg, Germany, said that Junior Malanda, the Wolfsburg midfielder and Belgium youth international, was killed in a car crash.
The police said Malanda, 20, died in a crash that occurred near Bielefeld in western Germany.
LAMPARD DEFINITELY IS SIGNED Frank Lampard has finally signed his Major League Soccer contract to play for New York City F.C.
Lampard’s signing last week to a two-year contract to start in July, midway through New York City F.C.’s first season in M.L.S., was confirmed to The Associated Press.
The announcement followed confusing public statements from New York City F.C. and the partner club Manchester City about Lampard’s status.
