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Gareth Bale avoided RED CARD for shock elbow in Real Madrid win over Celta Vigo
GARETH BALE was lucky to avoid a straight red card in Real Madrid’s 2-0 win over Celta Vigo today.
Bale scored in the routine 2-0 win for Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.
The Wales striker has proved a controversial figure in recent weeks for his below-par performances.
Some fans have partly blamed his displays on the sacking of Santiago Solari earlier this month.
Solari has been replaced by Zinedine Zidane, who oversaw the win over Celta Vigo today.
But Bale may be counting himself lucky that he was not sent off during the battle.
Early in the second half, with the scores still at 0-0, Bale charged into the Vigo penalty box and clashed with Kevin Vazquez.
As these pictures show, the Welshman elbowed Vazquez square in the head when challenging for possession.
Vazquez went down immediately but Bale was only booked for the incident.
After the match Zidane said: “The feelings are positive.
“We got a good result in the end, what we were looking for, an important result.
"We did not start the game well, that is normal, we needed to have patience, and end of the first half better, and second half much better. So I am happy."