Gareth Bale rescued Real Madrid's blushes with a late winner in their Club World Cup semifinal win over Al Jazira.

Despite Real dominating the match at the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi, it was the team from the United Arab Emirates who took a shock 41st-minute lead through Romarinho.

And Al Jazira looked to have gone two ahead early in the second half but it was chalked off for offside after a video referral.

Cristiano Ronaldo equalised shortly afterwards and substitute Bale scored moments after his introduction with nine minutes left to set up a final clash with Brazilians Gremio on Saturday.

Real coach Zinedine Zidane remarked afterwards: “There's not much to say. We deserved the win and a place in the final. That's all we're worried about. It was a very strange first half. It's unusual not to score when you create that many chances. The great thing about football is that we had another 45 minutes to change things and that's exactly what we did. We were patient and we turned it around.

“We had to stay calm. These things can happen in football sometimes. The good thing is that we were able to get back in front after the break and it's a deserved win. Any opponents can get a goal against you. They were very good on the counter-attack. That's a weapon they had with their three guys up top. At half-time, I told the players to stay calm because the chances were going to come. We got the win, though not without digging deep. There's no such thing as an easy win in football. I said that much yesterday. We have to congratulate Al Jazira because they did a great job."