Gareth Bale twice came to Real Madrid's rescue to salvage a 2-2 draw at Villarreal in La Liga on Sunday - but ended the night with a red card.
The Welshman's evening at the Estadio de la Ceramica was certainly in the realms of hero to zero as his brace was overshadowed by two yellow cards inside two added minutes at the end of the second half.
Real were severely weakened by six injuries to attacking players and fell behind in the 11th minute when captain Sergio Ramos lost the ball in his own half and Villarreal broke quickly, with Gerard Moreno scoring on the rebound.
Villarreal's goal was initially chalked off for offside but upon reflection with VAR, the goal stood.
Bale equalised in stoppage time of the first half by tapping in a cross from Dani Carvajal from close range, capping off a great team move.
But, Villarreal restored their lead in the 74th minute through Moi Gomez, after Karim Benzema had a goal correctly ruled out for offside.
Bale again pulled Madrid out of trouble with a powerful low strike in the 88th minute, but somehow contrived to get himself sent off by earning two yellow cards for fouls in stoppage time.
His performance warranted all the plaudits it was to get, but his two minutes of madness has overshadowed his two goal haul and will now miss Los Blancos' match against Levante after the international break.
Madrid have picked up five points from their opening three games, one more than champions Barcelona , but Zinedine Zidane's side are four points behind early leaders Atletico Madrid, who have won all three matches.
