Bale rescues Madrid from Ronaldo red

Gareth Bale’s late penalty bagged Real Madrid a 2-1 win at Cordoba in an exciting contest which also saw Cristiano Ronaldo sent off.

Sami Khedira had found himself on the periphery for much of the season, in no part due to a spate of injuries, but he was given a rare chance to impress in place of Isco, who missed out due to a muscle strain. Elsewhere, Asier Illarramendi was named on the bench, despite speculation about his future at the Santiago Bernabeu going into overdrive in the last few days.

Inside just two minutes, the hosts found the breakthrough from the penalty spot. Sergio Ramos’ clear handball on Nabil Ghilas’ shot from the edge of the box. The Moroccan duly stepped up and slammed home from 12 yards.

Cordoba continued to pile on the pressure and commit numbers forward, with most of their attacks coming through Bebe down the right-hand side, but poor decision-making at critical junctures meant he failed to add to his side’s lead.

Madrid were second-best for much of the first half, which meant a set-piece was the likeliest source of an equaliser, and so it happened when James Rodriguez’s corner was guided onto eventual goalscorer Karim Benzema.

The pulsating nature of proceedings carried on well into the restart, with Los Califas maintaining their high-tempo game, almost resulting in Florin Andone lobbing Casillas, only for the Romanian to see his effort bounce onto the crossbar.

Los Blancos were then down to 10 men with only minutes of the match remaining as Ronaldo endured a moment of madness, shoving Edimar to the ground in an off-the-ball episode before lashing out at the chin of Jose Angel Crespo.

However, Bale stepped up to become the visitors’ saviour as the 90th minute approached, smashing a free kick at Fede Cartabia’s raised arm and duly converting the penalty to secure a vital three points for Carlo Ancelotti’s men.

Cordoba 1-2 Real Madrid

Ghilas pen 2 (C) Benzema 27, Bale 89 (R)

Cordoba: Juan Carlos; Gunino, Pantic, Crespo, Edimar; Deivid, Rossi; Bebe, Fede (Vico 80), Ghilas; Andone

Real Madrid: Casillas; Carvajal, Ramos, Varane, Marcelo (Coentrao 72); Kroos, Khedira (Illarramendi 64), James (Jese 80); Bale, Benzema, Ronaldo

Referee: Hernandez Hernandez

Tags Cordoba
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