Welsh international Gareth Bale was on the Real Madrid bench for the entire duration of the Spanish Copa Del Rey encounter with hosts Elche on Thursday. Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti had earlier said that Gareth Bale has recovered from injury and will be in the squad to face Elche in the round of 16 as far as the Copa Del Rey this season is concerned. The Italian tactician confirmed the availability of Bale for the Elche game after an injury layoff in his pre-match press conference before the game.
The two teams had to to play extra time after failing to score any goal in added time. Real Madrid had to play the majority of the extra 30 minutes with ten men after skipper Marcelo was sent off with seven minutes of extra time gone. The Brazilian left-back committed a professional foul just outside the Real Madrid box and he was punished with a red card. Verdu gave the home team the lead from the resulting free-kick after the rebound from his shot deflected into the back of the net off Casemiro. The Elche goal happened a minute after Marcelo was sent off.
10-man Real Madrid showed character to come from a goal down to win the game in extra time thanks to the goals from two substitutes Isco and Eden Hazard. The Madrid equaliser came four minutes after the Elche goal before Hazard sealed the 2-1 win with five extra time minutes left to play.