Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said his team "cannot go crazy" after falling behind Barcelona in the La Liga title race by drawing 3-3 at home to Las Palmas on Wednesday night.
After Isco and Tana had swapped early goals, Madrid were reduced to 10 men when Gareth Bale was sent off after first kicking out at Jonathan Veira and then pushing the Las Palmas schemer to the ground.
Viera soon netted a penalty conceded by Madrid captain Sergio Ramos for handball, and the Bernabeu could barely believe it when Kevin-Prince Boateng made it 3-1. But with time almost up, Cristiano Ronaldo converted another penalty awarded for handball and then flashed in a superb header to equalise.
After a dramatic night which also saw Barca beat Sporting Gijon 6-1, and Blaugrana coach Luis Enrique announce his departure in the summer, Madrid slip a point behind the Catalans at the top of the table, albeit with Zidane's side having a game in hand.
"We cannot be happy with this draw," the Frenchman told the postmatch news conference. "But at the same time we cannot go crazy. We must analyse things, think about what we can do to change this, and we will change it. We made an enormous effort to come back to 3-3 from 3-1. We have character, we can do good things, but there are moments when we must be cleverer and more focused."
Madrid striker Alvaro Morata had three goals ruled out for offside -- at least one of which was very debatable -- while Ronaldo was booked for diving in the penalty area with the game at 3-1 by referee David Fernandez Borbalan. After a week in which refereeing standards and ethics in La Liga have been questioned, Zidane refused to look for such an easy excuse.
"I'm not getting into the issue of refs, I never do," he said. "We must not look for an excuse in that. I only look at what we can control ourselves, and what we can do better."
Neither would Zidane accept that Bale's rush of blood to the head had cost his team.
"Bale apologised, of course, he is not happy with the sending off," he said. "But that can happen. Of course it is better to play with 11, but with 10 we got back from 1-3 to 3-3."
The Wales striker was contrite about the sending off, but refused to agree with the call that led to his ejection.
"The first thing I have to say is that I don't think it's red," he told Real Madrid TV. "Viera pushed me and then I push him, so I don't think it's red. I want to ask my colleagues and my coach for forgiveness."
Madrid have lost at Sevilla and Valencia recently, and also rode their luck considerably when coming from 2-0 down to beat Villarreal 3-2 last weekend, a string of performances which Zidane said must be improved upon.
"There were many times I came here happy after games, lately we cannot be happy with what we are doing," Zidane said. "This is a difficult moment, as it is three or four games now. But there is a long way to go and we must fix it all being together ourselves.
"We are all in the same boat, I am the most responsible, and we will turn this around. When we were leaders, I said the same, it would be difficult until the end. Today we are not leaders, but the league remains open. We will not drop our hands, we will keep fighting."