Villarreal 2 Real Madrid 2: Gareth Bale boosts Champions League final chances but Zinedine Zidane’s side are held
Cristiano Ronaldo shrugged off his injury fears by playing an hour and scoring in the final La Liga game
GARETH BALE gave his Champions League chances a boost in Spain by scoring his fifth goal in four La Liga games.
Bale is hoping to convince Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane to be given a start against Liverpool in the Euro final in Kiev next Saturday.
The Welshman has suffered a tough time with form and injury but he opened the scoring after just 11 minutes and played all 90 minutes.
And Cristiano Ronaldo also shrugged off any injury concerns by starting and scoring the second with Villarreal staging a late comeback.
The point means Real will definitely finish third in La Liga behind neighbours Atletico.
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The opener saw Bale continue his purple patch after a dip in form and problems with injuries and he now has a chance of facing Jurgen Klopp’s side in Ukraine.
Bale has fought his way back into Zidane’s thoughts after being humiliated by the Frenchman when he was substituted at half-time of the home quarter-final against Juventus.
But Bale delivered a clever dummy following a pass from Luka Modric before winning the ball and shooting into the corner from just inside the area.
Ronaldo, sidelined with an ankle problem since the 2-2 draw with Barcelona a couple of weeks ago, headed the second from Marcelo’s cross in the 31st minute.
Ronaldo and Modric were replaced with 28 minutes left by Lucas Vazquez and Karim Benzema.
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Colombian Roger Martinez scored a cracking goal with 19 minute left and then five minutes from time Villarreal levelled.
Making his Real debut in goal was Zidane’s son Luca. He made a complete mess of a situation and sub Samu Castillejo rounded him to score.