Gareth Bale Says Las Palmas Red Card Was Undeserved, Offers Real Madrid Apology

Gareth Bale has apologised to Zinedine Zidane after being sent off against Las Palmas on Wednesday, according to the Real Madrid boss, but has insisted he did not deserve a red card.

Bale saw red for kicking and then pushing over Jonathan Viera. Per Sky Sports' James Walker-Roberts, Zidane said: "He has apologised. He is not happy with the sending-off."

The 27-year-old offered an apology on Real Madrid TV, though he believes he did not deserve to be sent off for the incident: "I don't believe that it was deserving of a red card. I was shown the yellow for the foul, I was then pushed and I just pushed him back. I want to apologise to the team and the fans. I hope to learn from my mistake."

However, sports journalist Jonas Giaever and La Liga writer Andrew Gaffney believe otherwise, despite Bale's reaction being very out of character:

The red card was just the second of the Welshman's senior career and almost 10 years after his first, which came while playing for Tottenham Hotspur against Stoke City in 2008.

SB Nation's Lucas Navarrete was annoyed with Bale, who will now face at least one match on the sidelines after only recently coming back from injury:

Madrid team-mate Marcelo also wasn't happy, but was not overly critical, per ESPN FC's Dermot Corrigan:

Los Blancos salvaged a 3-3 draw from the match thanks to a late brace from Cristiano Ronaldo.

The winger received his marching orders just two minutes into the second half with the score at 1-1.

Las Palmas capitalised on their man advantage and scored twice more through Viera and Kevin-Prince Boateng, before Ronaldo netted from the penalty spot in the 86th minute and crashed home a superb header three minutes later.

Real's draw allowed Barcelona to leapfrog them into top spot in La Liga after the Blaugrana thrashed Sporting Gijon 6-1.

Los Blancos are now one point behind with a game in hand, and they seriously need to improve their form after losing 2-1 to Valencia and then needing to come from two goals down to beat Villarreal 3-2 on Sunday.

Their struggles have firmly reopened the title race—when Bale returns to the team, he needs to make amends by helping them get back to a consistently high level of performance.