Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice in the final four minutes as 10-man Real Madrid came from two goals behind to draw 3-3 with Las Palmas during an incident-filled La Liga clash at the Bernabeu on Wednesday night.
The visitors led 3-1 and boasted a numerical advantage entering the final five minutes in the Spanish capital, but Real Madrid fought back in incredible fashion to snatch victory away from the Canary islanders.
The point is not enough to take Real Madrid back to the top of the table, however, with Barcelona leading La Liga on 57 points after recording a 6-1 win over Sporting Gijon earlier in the night.
Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane made four changes to the team that overcame Villarreal at the weekend, with Nacho, Mateo Kovacic, Isco and Alvaro Morata replacing Pepe, Casemiro, Luka Modric and Karim Benzema. Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, however, both kept their places in the XI.
As for the visitors, former Real Madrid winger Jese Rodriguez, who is on loan at Las Palmas from Paris Saint-Germain, returned to the Bernabeu for the first time in the standout piece of team news for the Yellows.
Real Madrid had the ball in the back of the Las Palmas net inside the first 60 seconds at the Bernabeu, but the offside flag denied Morata, who had met a cross from Bale, an early goal in the capital.
The home side continued to force the issue, however, and made the breakthrough in the eighth minute of the contest when Isco collected a pass from Toni Kroos before rolling the ball under the onrushing Javi Varas.
Las Palmas responded less than two minutes later though as tricky midfielder Tana turned Sergio Ramos on the edge of the Real Madrid box before unleashing an unstoppable effort past Keylor Navas to level the scores at 1-1.
A tight offside call again denied Morata a goal in the 11th minute, before Jese had a goal-bound strike deflected over the crossbar during what was an end-to-end period of the match at the Bernabeu.
Play was stopped at the mid-point of the first period after a head injury forced Pedro Bigas to leave the field on a stretcher, but the change did not impact Las Palmas's performance and Vicente Gomez had a header cleared off the line 10 minutes before the break as Real Madrid continued to wobble at the back.
The home side had a couple of opportunities to regain the lead in the latter stages of the first period, but Ramos could only head a Bale delivery into the arms of Varas, before Morata was denied the chance to meet a low Ronaldo cross by a challenge from highly-rated defender Mauricio Lemos.
Morata tested Varas with a long-range strike early in the second period as Real Madrid started on the front foot, but the home side's chances took a big hit in the 47th minute when Bale was shown a straight red card.
Firstly, Bale was booked for hacking Jonathan Viera from behind, but the Welshman was then shown red seconds later after aggressively pushing the Las Palmas midfielder in the chest right under the nose of the referee, who quickly reacted.
It went from bad to worse for Real Madrid in the 55th minute when Las Palmas were awarded a penalty after Ramos handled a David Simon strike inside the box. It was Viera that stepped forward, and the former Valencia attacker just about found a route past the diving Navas to send the visitors into a 2-1 lead.
Jese almost made it 3-1 just before the hour after unleashing a powerful strike inside the Real Madrid box, but Navas was on hand to make a smart save down low. Las Palmas were not to be denied though and incredibly had a third in the 59th minute when Boateng beat Navas to a loose ball and rolled home after Real Madrid's defence had gone walkabout.
Jese had another sensational chance in the 62nd minute after being given the freedom of the Real Madrid box, but Navas made another save to just about keep Real Madrid in the argument.
Morata had the ball in the back of the Las Palmas net for a third time in the 70th minute, but once again the offside flag was raised and moments later, James Rodriguez and Benzema were both introduced for the hosts.
Benzema had a chance to halve the deficit in the 74th minute after meeting a low cross from James, but the Frenchman's effort missed the crossbar as Las Palmas survived another dangerous moment.
The visitors remained a threat on the counter-attack, however, and Navas had to make another save to deny Jese, who came back to haunt his former club with an impressive performance.
A spectacular double block from Aythami Artiles prevented both Benzema and Ronaldo from finding the back of the net five minutes from time, but Real Madrid set up a grandstand finish in the 86th minute when Ronaldo fired a penalty into the top corner after Dani Castellano had handled a cross from the home side's number seven.
The action was not finished, however, and Los Blancos snatched victory away from Las Palmas in the 89th minute when Ronaldo headed a James cross into the back of the net to ensure that the points were shared.
Next up for Real Madrid, who still have a game in hand over their rivals, is a trip to Eibar this weekend, while Las Palmas's search for a win will continue when they host basement side Osasuna.
Matt Law
