Gareth Bale sent a message to Zinedine Zidane after coming off the bench to score and inspire Real Madrid's comeback against Arsenal at the International Champions Cup.
Bale – tipped for an imminent Madrid exit after sitting out last week's loss to Bayern Munich – was surprisingly introduced by Zidane at half-time and the Los Blancos outcast helped erase a two-goal deficit in a 2-2 draw before the LaLiga giants won on penalties on Tuesday.
Arsenal – who had Sokratis Papastathopoulos sent off prior to half-time after Nacho Fernandez was dismissed for a handball – were in control thanks to Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, until Bale entered the fray.
Bale pulled a goal back with a simple finish in the 56th minute before fellow substitute Marco Asensio restored parity three minutes later in Maryland, where penalties were needed.
While Bale's spot-kick was saved by Emiliano Martinez, Madrid still prevailed 3-2 over Unai Emery's Arsenal in the shoot-out.
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