Sport
What went wrong for Gareth Bale at Real Madrid?
“Bale did not play because he is very close to leaving. We hope he leaves soon. I have nothing personal against him but there comes a time where things are done because they have to be done. I have to make changes. We have to change. The exit is the coach’s decision and also of the player, who knows the situation. The situation will change, I do not know if in the next 24 or 48 hours but it will and it’s a good thing for everyone.”
If Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane didn’t realise the impact of his comments as he was speaking them, he would soon after. The inflammatory remarks were widely reported by the sporting press across Europe and prompted an angry response by Gareth Bale’s agent, Jonathan Barnett, who said: “Zidane is a disgrace. He shows no respect for a player that has done so much for Real Madrid.”
Barnett isn’t wrong. Since departing north London for Madrid for a then world record fee of £85 million in 2013, Bale has turned out 155 times for the Spanish giants, scoring 78 goals, a rate of one goal every 1.98 matches.
To put that in perspective, it is a superior scoring rate than Karim Benzema (1 every 2.1), Fernando Morientes (1 every 2.52) or the legendary Raul (1 every 2.41) managed for Los Blancos, all of whom feature alongside Bale in the list of Real’s top 15 scorers of all time. Bale, incidentally, is 14th on that list.
It isn’t just Bale’s finishing that has been impressive during his time in Spain though, it is the importance of the goals that he has scored. He scored the winning goal in the 2014 Champions League final against city rivals Atletico Madrid, having also netted the winner in the Copa Del Rey final against Barcelona a month earlier.
He laid on an assist for Real’s only goal in the 2015/16 Champions League final and scored twice as a substitute in the 2017/18 finale as they beat Liverpool 3-1, subsequently being named man of the match.
In total, the Welshman has amassed an impressive trophy collection in the Spanish capital, winning La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Supercopa once, the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup three times each and the Champions League a staggering four times in five years.
Yet the famously fickle Madrid fans have never fully taken to Bale and, seemingly, nor have his teammates. He has been regularly booed by the supporters throughout his spell at the club despite being one of the top performers during the most successful period in the club’s history.
He isn’t the first to fall foul of Real’s supporter base though with plenty of players receiving similar treatment over the years. Even Cristiano Ronaldo, unquestionably the finest and most successful player in the club’s history, has regularly been heckled from the stands.
However, possibly the more serious and influential divide is the one that appears to have grown between Bale and his teammates. In February he received veiled criticism from Thibaus Courtois and Marcelo over his apparent lack of integration into the squad.
Courtois revealed that the squad had dubbed Bale ‘The Golfer’ over the amount of time he spends on the course, before adding:
“I would say he has so much talent but that it is such a shame that so often that talent is blocked from shining. I live like somebody who is born and bred in Madrid. I eat late, I go bed late, it is their way of life. The other night we had a dinner with the entire squad but Bale and Kroos did not turn up. They reckoned the dinner was too late at night. We had arranged to be in the restaurant at 9.30pm and we started out meal around 10.15pm and by midnight we were having coffee. We go to bed at around 1am. We have to train every morning at 11am. I think that is a perfect time. But Bale had told us ‘I am not coming to join you, guys. I go to bed at 11’.”
Though it seems extremely hard to criticise Bale for what could be deemed as professionalism, you also could argue that declining an invitation to integrate with his fellow players on occasions like that hasn’t helped his cause. Nor has his failure to learn Spanish despite living in Spain for six years. Marcelo said; “Bale does not speak Spanish as he only speaks English and we talk with gestures.”
Whether or not you believe Bale could have done more to endear himself to the fans and players off the pitch though, it’s hard to argue that he could have done much more on it. Under the fierce spotlight of the Bernebeu he has thrived for arguably the biggest club in the world, scoring goals and winning trophies.
He certainly doesn’t deserve to be ushered out the back door and shipped off to a last payday in China without acknowledgement over what he has contributed to the club. Zidane’s comments have rendered Bale’s departure inevitable though and, considering that like Bale he is one of the greats of the modern game, he certainly should have known better.
