Injured Bale doubtful for Bayern encounter
Gareth Bale will miss Real Madrid’s trip to Sporting Gijon on Saturday and faces a race against time to be fit for Real’s Champions League quarterfinal second leg against Bayern Munich on Tuesday.
Bale had to be replaced for the final half hour of Madrid’s 2-1 win in Munich on Wednesday after aggravating an ankle injury that saw him miss nearly three months earlier this season.
“He will not be with us tomorrow, that is clear, after that we will see,” Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said on Friday.
“It is a muscular problem, it is where he had his operation. “When he started to play again it has bothered him. It is true that I am concerned. I don’t like to see my players injured and even more so in the final straight of the season.”
Bale has played just 25 times in all competitions this season due to various injuries and suspension. Zidane is expected to make a series of changes from the side that started in Munich with the second leg in mind.
Two-goal hero in midweek Cristiano Ronaldo could be rested, whilst Pepe and Raphael Varane are also absent due to injury.
Real have made a positive start to a huge April with Barcelona also visiting the Santiago Bernabeu next weekend.
Zidane’s men have opened up a three-point lead over Barca at the top of the table and have a game still in hand.
Meanwhile, they remain on course to become the first team to retain the Champions League in 27 years.
CONTRACT TALKS CAN WAIT, SAYS OZIL
Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil does not want contract talks to distract the club in the crucial run-in to the end of the season and will wait until the Premier League campaign is over before discussing his future, the German midfielder has said.
“At this stage I’m not important, what’s important is the club,” Ozil said. “We’ve still got a lot to aim for this season, to try and finish in the top four. It would be wrong to think about anything other than the football.”
EPL SUFFERS £312M LOSS: REPORT
The Premier League is set to announce a record annual loss of £312 million because of the declining value of sterling and new accounting rules, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
Much of Premier League’s income comes from overseas broadcast deals. This season alone is set to see the 20 clubs take a cut from international media rights agreements worth an esti mated £3 billion in total.
The league clubs have usually received their share in sterling with the Premier League using financial instruments known as derivatives to offset the exchange rate risk that comes from the fact that television contracts are also paid in US dollars and euros — a process called hedging. But UK rules for the reporting of deriva tives have changed, with compa nies now required to value their contracts annually at market pri ces, instead of waiting until a dea had been completed to make a for mal declaration of its worth.