Bale gives Zidane CL final hint
Madrid, May 13: Gareth Bale scored twice as Real Madrid routed Celta Vigo 6- 0 on Saturday to give coach Zinedine Zidane a selection headache for the Champions League final.
With Cristiano Ronaldo again sidelined with an ankle injury, Welsh star Bale stepped into the limelight with two first- half strikes to push his case for a starting spot in the European showpiece against Liverpool in Kiev in two weeks’ time.
Bale opened his account after 13 minutes on Saturday, picking up a sweetly- timed through ball from Luka Modric to score.
His second on the halfhour mark saw him dash to the byline before tucking the ball to one side of a defender and then unleashing a sharp leftfooted drive into the corner of the net.
Bale celebrated by dedicating his performance to his third son Axel Charles who was born on Tuesday.
“It’s better for everyone to be over- motivated and ready,” admitted Zidane. “It will be a headache to put a team together for the Champions League final.”
Isco made it 3- 0 for Real after 32 minutes before Moroccan midfielder Achraf added the fourth, seven minutes into the second half.
On a miserable night for mid- table Celta, Sergi Gomez put through his own net on 74 minutes, leaving German internatonal Toni Kroos to tuck away Real’s sixth goal after 81 minutes.
Real stay in third place in the table on 75 points, 15 behind champions Barcelona and three back from city rivals Atletico with one game left to play.
Earlier Saturday, Koke’s early goal proved enough for Atletico to claim a 1- 0 win at Getafe and remain on course to finish in second place.