Bale: Real Madrid will cope without Cristiano Ronaldo

The No 7 was shown a straight red card for kicking Edimar to the ground in an off-the-ball incident, leaving the Welshman with the task of rescuing Los Blancos at the death from the penalty spot.

“It was a tough game. The pitch wasn’t the best, but it was the same for both teams,” he said after the game.

“They put us under a lot of difficulty. Sometimes you’re faced with these type of games, but luckily we managed to win.

“Maybe it was the worst [pitch I’ve played on in Spain] as it was very dry. It’s not an excuse because it was the same for both teams, but it greatly affected us.

“[The team’s] exactly the same as it was before. We showed a lot of character to get the three points.

“[Cristiano’s] red was a disappointment, but I didn’t see what happened so I can’t say any more.

“The squad is big enough. The team have played games without him and gone forward.”

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