Ronaldo out, Bale in for Real Madrid

Real Madrid had to wait till the dying minutes to put all three points in the bag, edging Córdoba, 2-1.

Their front man well and truly stepped up.

No, not Cristiano Ronaldo. Gareth Bale.

We all know the start to 2015 has been brutal for the Los Blancos compared to their fortunes at the end of 2014. Córdoba should've been easy pickings for the Galácticos, but the football gods were having a crazy day. Farther north, England’s top teams fell prey to it, but Bale was not taking any bullying.

Real have been out of sorts, but conceding as early as three minutes into a game through a penalty ... well, that’s a new level out-sorting for the Champions League titlists.

As cool as you like against the formerly-primo goalkeeper Casillas.

But this is Real Madrid; there had to be goals. And so there were. Karem Benzema levelled it all up:

Benzema looked like a sweeping beauty there.

When the match started to get stale, none other than Ronaldo spiced it up. Not in the usual way, though:

Damn. Did Vince McMahon have a scout in the crowd? He could use a little help right now.

Maybe Messi scoring goals again is getting to him.

Real were fortunate that one dude was having a  handsy day. It was worth a late penalty.

That's when Bale strode into the spotlight and netted a million-dollar goal for the Blancos.

He even forgot to do his trademark run.

It'll wait 'til another day.