Madrid (AFP)
"Disrespectful", "ungrateful" ... After a new gap, Gareth Bale is still in turmoil at Real Madrid, where his apparent casualness could earn him the bronca stadium Bernabeu Saturday against Real Sociedad. A headache for his coach Zinedine Zidane, who wanted his departure.
Is there worse way to prepare for the shock of Champions League against Paris SG next Tuesday? Here is the Real mired in one of the endless polemics of which this club overexposed media is customary, and it is again Bale which poses problem.
Tuesday night, after helping Wales get their ticket for Euro-2020, the Dragons forward celebrated this qualification with his partners, appearing, hilarious, behind a Welsh flag where he was registered: "Wales, golf, Madrid, in this order".
The slogan, taken up by the Welsh fans (who owned the flag), is an allusion to the criticism of former Merengue player Predrag Mijatovic: "Bale thinks first of Wales, then of golf, and finally of Real Madrid Montenegrin told Spanish radio Cadena Ser last month.
The frisson too much for Madrid supporters? Some of them are finding it increasingly difficult to accept the lack of investment and repeated injuries of the Welsh star, transferred from Tottenham to Real Madrid in 2013 for around 100 million euros, a record at time.
And Bale did not settle his case by declaring a few days ago that he took "more fun to play with Wales" than with his club.
- "Disrespectful", "ungrateful" -
"Disrespectful, next to the plate, ungrateful In this order," titled the Spanish sports daily Marca, Thursday, referring to the case of the flag. Asked: "What must Real Madrid do with Basel?"
"This story is over," said journalist Miguel Angel Garcia in the columns of the daily newspaper. "It should have stopped well before, this summer to be exact, but after the episode of the flag, it can not take the jersey of Real Madrid a minute more."
Zinedine Zidane, who says cold with the Welsh striker, can he punish? Aligning him Saturday to the Bernabeu in the Spanish league would expose him to the anger of the "socios" (supporters-shareholders) of the club ...
Bale has not played with Real since October 5 against Granada (4-2 win). In the wake, the attacker joined his selection ... and was injured.
He stayed in the infirmary until he returned to competition last week with Wales against Azerbaijan and then Hungary.
- Zidane protector -
Returned to Madrid Wednesday, training Thursday, Gareth Bale is now fully recovered. But his place in the eleven Zidane is not assured: in his absence, a phenomenon has arisen on his right wing: the Brazilian Rodrygo, 18 years and author of a tripled in the Champions League against Galatasaray (6-0) November 6th.
In short, nothing is easy for Zidane, who would have preferred to see the Welsh leave in the offseason. "It would be better for everyone" if he was transferred to China, he said, before being forced by the events to change approach in recent weeks, seeming more protective.
When Basel allowed himself a trip to London, "Zizou" calmed the rumor by repeating that he had given him permission. He also said he had "no problem" with the fact that the Welsh, convalescent, join "the Dragons" in mid-November. He finally described as "absurd" the rumors of a departure of the Welsh winter mercato.
But the situation seems more and more untenable: can Real thus keep one of the largest salaries of the workforce? And until when will "Zizou" protect Gareth Bale?
© 2019 AFP