Cristiano Ronaldo's Late Goal Gives Real Madrid Draw vs. Athletic Bilbao

Cristiano Ronaldo scored for the 12th match running to earn Real Madrid a 1-1 draw against Athletic Bilbao at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in La Liga on Wednesday.

Ronaldo's deft backheel three minutes from time equalised Inaki Williams' smartly taken opener for the visitors. Real earned a point, but the draw keeps last season's champions third and 15 points adrift of leaders Barcelona with only five games left to play.

Ronaldo Even Better than Last Season

Even at 33, Ronaldo shows no signs of slowing down in front of goal. In fact, he's going to be better than last season.

Ronaldo's latest cute finish drew him level, ahead of schedule, with his output from the previous campaign, per Sky Sports Statto:

Since he has at least two more games left in the UEFA Champions League, as well as five more La Liga matches to play, Ronaldo will almost certainly eclipse what he did when Real won both titles in 2018.

Consistency is the most impressive aspect of what Ronaldo continues to do. His scoring run has now hit 12 matches across all competitions for the first time in his career, with OptaJose detailing the prolific No. 7's list of victims:

Expect Ronaldo to keep extending this record, with no player likely take the veteran's place as Real's talisman any time soon.

Bale Again on the Bench

Once again, Bale's absence from the starting XI was notable. The Welshman continues to be overlooked, despite moving to the Spanish capital for a world-record transfer fee in 2013.

Before the game, Santiago Siguero and Chris Winterburn of Marca described how Bale is only being used when regular starters are rested for league duty. It's robbing him of chances to stake his claim to start in Real's upcoming Champions League semi-final title against Bayern Munich.

Karim Benzema was given the nod ahead of Bale, but the Frenchman struggled during the first half. Yet ESPN FC's Dermot Corrigan noted how one tricky moment for Benzema didn't prompt questions about Bale:

Ultimately, it took Real boss Zinedine Zidane 69 minutes to finally bring Bale off the bench to replace Benzema.

Even so, The Spanish Football Podcast noticed how Bale's introduction was hardly met with a warm reaction:

Another failure to start will only raise further questions about the future of an increasingly overlooked attacker who last month was linked with a €130 million move to the Chinese Super League, per Diario Gol (h/t TalkSport.com).

Kepa Arrizabalaga Shows Real What They're Missing

Athletic goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga reportedly turned down Real when he inked a new lengthy contract set to run over seven years back in January, per Sky Sports. He admitted there had been offers, but called Athletic his "home," per Goal's Jamie Smith.

The 23-year-old stopper showed Los Blancos what they're missing with a superb display.

Arrizabalaga's reflexes were flawless more than once during the opening 45 minutes, as he denied Marco Asensio, Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos.

The fingertip save to push Asensio's effort wide of the post after the midfielder's brilliant solo run drew special praise from FourFourTwo's Kiyan Sobhani:

By halftime, OptaJose recounted how often Arrizabalaga, who kept a clean sheet when the two sides drew 0-0 at San Mames back in December, had frustrated Real this season:

While he couldn't hold the hosts off for the entire second half, Athletic's precocious keeper had still delivered a performance reaffirming him as a rising talent.

Even though he'd conceded, Arrizabalaga finished this return meeting having delivered a fine night's work:

Even with displays like this Real are unlikely to test the €80 million release clause in Arrizabalaga's bumper new deal.

What's Next?

With the title all but officially confirmed as gone, Real's focus will now turn to overcoming a formidable Bayern side in the last four of the Champions League for the second season running. The task begins with next Wednesday's first leg at the Allianz Arena.

Meanwhile, Athletic can heap more misery on relegation-threatened Levante with a home win on Monday.