Cardiff Express derailed
No Real Bale-out as injury-prone Madrid star’s set to be in the sidelines
REAL Madrid will have to reach this year’s Cardiff Champions League final without Gareth Bale after the club confirmed he has a “grade-two” lower calf strain in his left leg.
Bale was desperate to play his part in the double-header against Atletico Madrid knowing a European Cup final in his hometown awaits if Real Madrid are victorious.
But now it appears he will be watching from the sidelines after the club confirmed the latest in a long line of injury setbacks. There is no official time scale but it is understood he will need between two and three weeks to get back to fitness.
Bale dislocated his right ankle last November and missed three months following surgery and his comeback has been hampered by a new injury in the other leg.
The fresh blow comes just as he was bearing the brunt of Real Madrid’s post-Clasico fall-out with much of Spain’s media suggesting he should never have played the fixture because he was not properly fit.
Diario AS’ editorial yesterday read: “Why did Bale start the game on Sunday? Zidane’s explanations were woeful. He said he really wanted to play the game. Does that mean Lucas Vazquez, Marco Asensio, Isco and James did not?
“When Asensio came on he did a lot more,” continued AS. The 21-year-old has been outstanding of late and looks like someone who will justify a starting berth next season.
Isco scored twice to save Madrid’s skin away at Sporting Gijon recently and the Marca front page yesterday suggested he will be given a new 6-million-a-season (about R86-million) contract until 2022. There is no such love for Rodriguez but he still came on and scored in the Clasico. And Vazquez is another option who has deputised well in the past.
Three of those four alternatives are Spanish and, while there is no resentment towards the fact that Bale is not – Real Madrid’s grand history is built on embracing the best talent from abroad – there are those who want one of the three Spaniards in the side ahead of him, especially when he is not 100 percent.
Above and beyond his Clasico inclusion and subsequent substitution, Bale’s injury problems are beginning to make more and more headlines. “Arjen Robben has played more at 33 years of age than Bale at 27” was another headline in Diario AS.
The Dutchman has played 58 percent of his team’s games and Bale only 40.5 percent. There is also mention made of Carlo Ancelotti’s book Quiet Leadership in which he suggests his relationship with Real Madrid president Florentino Perez deteriorated when he benched Bale against Perez’s wishes.
The “Cardiff Express”, as his supporters in the Spanish capital call him, is due to have further tests on his calf to see the full extent of his injury. He has always had to work twice as hard at the club to get the recognition his contribution has merited.
He won the Champions League, the Copa del Rey and the Club World Cup in his first season scoring key goals in all of the finals. His Copa del Rey final winner, running from the halfway line, was one of the best in the club’s history, then he endured a rough next season. – Daily Mail BLOW: Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale holds his leg after getting injured during their Spanish La Liga match against Barcelona, dubbed ‘El Clasico’, at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, Spain, on Sunday. Bale has been blamed for Real’s 3-2 defeat.