MADRID – From anger to indignation and from indignation to indifference. The relationship between Gareth Bale and Zinedine Zidane has gone from bad to worse since the Champions League final that Real Madrid beat Liverpool in 2018 with a double by the Welsh footballer coming off the bench.
Zidane left the team at the end of that season and various sources acknowledge to ESPN that the relationship between the coach and Bale has further deteriorated since the Frenchman’s return in March 2019 to the point that he is currently at his worst moments.
The same sources slip that they see it difficult since there is a solution because the encounter between the two seems to have “already become a personal issue”.
From the coaching staff environment, it is believed that Bale is uncomfortable with his recurring substitutions in important games and they do not like how the player assumes those decisions despite the fact that they have no complaint about his performance in training.
That attitude, which already came from the first stage of Zidane in Madrid, has continued and led the French coach to leave the former Tottenham on the bench in key games such as Manchester City in the Champions League or the last league classic against Barcelona.
The bad faces, added to the continuous physical discomfort that the white player has had during the season, especially during the first round, have caused Bale to be one more substitute today despite the more than 100 million euros that Madrid paid to the Spurs for their services in 2013.
In fact, after the stoppage due to the coronavirus, the Welshman only played 28 minutes against Eibar, was left unheated against Valencia and Real Sociedad and went unnoticed as a starter in Wednesday’s victory against Mallorca.
Zidane, however, continues to try to iron out the issue at press conferences and insists that the Welshman is one of his staff.
“My relationship with Bale is very normal,” Zidane said a few days ago to the media.
However, the truth is that the coach is not comfortable with the insistent questions from the press about the former Tottenham.
Precisely one of Zidane’s answers about Bale on July 21 was the one that caused everything to jump through the air on a full tour of the United States.
Then, the Welshman seemed to have a foot and a half out of the club and Zidane surprised everyone with sharp statements. “If Bale leaves tomorrow, the better,” said Zidane.
Meanwhile from the locker room they admit to ESPN that it is difficult to understand the situation. The teammates remain on the sidelines but, like the coaching staff, they verify every day that the attacker trains without problems and many agree that, as he has already shown in the past, he has the quality to be one of the world top players.
Other sources also acknowledge to ESPN that even the relationship between Bale and Florentino Pérez is not going through its best moments either, despite the fact that the white president has been his main defender for many years.
In one way or another, from the club they try to juggle to put out the fires that from time to time produce an uncomfortable situation for all parties. Especially since the player’s assessment of other clubs has also been diminished both by his low participation and by those words from Zidane that in the summer put Bale on the trigger.
Despite all the player’s agent, Jonathan Barnett insists on ESPN that “Gareth is fine” and that his idea is still to fulfill his contract with Real Madrid (ends in 2022). It remains to be seen what happens in the summer transfer market, but its exit does not seem easy either, considering the stifling economic situation of the clubs after the coronavirus.
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