Blank-faced Bale earns Madrid battling win over Levante

Gareth Bale came off the bench to score a controversial winning penalty against Levante on Sunday but his refusal to celebrate suggested all may not be well again at Real Madrid.

Bale's spot-kick earned Madrid a battling and, in truth, undeserved 2-1 victory at the City of Valencia Stadium where referee Ignacio Iglesias failed to reverse his decision, despite VAR exposing a theatrical dive from Casemiro.

The absence of any delight from a stony-faced Bale was telling, as he turned and brushed off team-mates' attempts to congratulate him.

"The players can celebrate goals how they want, as long as we win," coach Santiago Solari said.

This was Bale's sixth game on the bench in the eight matches since he returned from injury and it remains to be seen if his cameo will be enough to win a start against Barcelona on Wednesday, in the semi-final of the Copa del Rey.

"He looked thrilled in the dressing room because he scored," added Solari.

"I loved how he came into the game, the anger he played with helped, and he gave us the victory, he gave us hard work.

"When we had 10 men he performed a double-job up front. For me, he had a fantastic match."
- Levante dominate first half -
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- Morata off the mark -
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"At last it came, and with a victory too, so I'm going home happy today," Morata said. "Until I saw all the officials in the stadium had given the goal, I didn't want to celebrate too much."