Wales captain Gareth Bale has admitted that the red card shown to Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey ‘changed the game’ against Iran as Wales stare at a possible World Cup exit.
After a draw against the USA in their first game, Wales went into the game against Iran knowing that a win would be crucial for their hopes of reaching the knockout stages. But the nation will now have to win against England if that is to be possible.
Hennessey was shown a straight red for a challenge on Mehdi Taremi in the closing stages of the game. The original yellow shown by the referee was overturned upon a VAR review.
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Wales looked to hold out to take a point from the game, with Danny Ward replacing Hennessey in goal. But they suffered heartbreak in the 98th minute when Rouzbeh Cheshmi put Iran ahead from outside of the area.
Things got worse when Ramin Rezaeian doubled their lead in the 101st minute as Iran broke from a Wales attack. Following the game, talisman Bale gave his reaction.
“It’s gutting, we’re gutted, there’s no other way to say it,” Bale told the BBC.“We fought to the last seconds but it’s difficult to take.
"But we have to pick ourselves up straight away, it’s going to be difficult but we have one game left.
“We will have to see. What can I say? We’ll recover and we have to go again.”
On the red card, Bale added: “I haven’t seen so I don’t know – but obviously the red card changed the game completely.”
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