Real Madrid: Gareth Bale Picks Up a Two Game Suspension

Manager Zinedine Zidane will have to do some lineup juggling as his team travel to Eibar this weekend trying to get his Real Madrid team a win after an embarrassing draw with Las Palmas Wednesday. He will be without three key attackers: Cristiano Ronaldo who is being rested, Alvaro Morata who is suspended for accumulating too many yellow cards, and Gareth Bale who was shown a red card on Wednesday.

After losing his cool Wednesday against Las Palmas, Bale was handed a two match ban from La Liga for his out burst early in the second half on midfielder Jonathan Viera. As you can see from the above video, Bale was already going to get his second yellow card of the match for his overly aggressive swipe at the leg of Viera.

Bale then went the extra step to shove Viera to the ground right as the referee arrived on scene.

Bale later apologized to his teammates and the fans for his poor behavior leading to his sending off. Manager Zinedine Zidane said of Bale after the match, “He has apologized. He is not happy with the sending off.”

Next: Ronaldo Misses Training, Won't Travel to Eibar Over the Weekend

“This can happen, it is a fact of the game and we cannot change it. I used to be happy after the matches and now I cannot be happy lately, but this is a very long season and we are going to change it.”

Real Madrid filed an appeal to La Liga earlier today trying to shorten the length of the suspension but it will likely be after the weekend once a decision is made. Right now, Bale is scheduled to miss today’s match against Eibar and Real’s home match against Real Betis March 12th.

It will be interesting to see what Zidane does to his starting XI with three key attackers missing. This is no walkover game for Real as Eibar sit 7th in the league table with some great recent performances. With 39 points this season, small club Eibar are pushing for a spot in European play next season.

It will be interesting to see if Mariano or Marco Asensio get any playing time after not featuring in the squad for several weeks now.

Real Madrid face Eibar at 4:15PM local time, 10:15AM EST in the United States.