Bale rescues Madrid from defeat to 10-man Barcelona

Gareth Bale hit a sublime equaliser for Real Madrid against Barcelona, who survived playing with 10 men for 45 minutes to move to within three games of going the entire La Liga season undefeated.

Sergi Roberto was shown a straight red card with the score 1-1 at the end of the first half of an ill-tempered El Clasico after he appeared to slap Real defender Marcelo.

BBC reports that Roberto had earlier provided the cross for an unmarked Luis Suarez to fire the hosts into the lead before Cristiano Ronaldo bundled the equaliser after Karim Benzema’s downward header.

Lionel Messi put the champions 2-1 ahead on the counter-attack only for Bale to level with a sweetly struck first-time finish.

Real’s Ronaldo was substituted at half-time after suffering an ankle sprain while scoring.