Bale’s marathon cash saver
GARETH BALE trained with Wales’ China Cup squad just two hours after completing a marathon 7,500-mile trip from Madrid – and could have saved his country £100,000 in the process.
It is understood the FAW will receive £1million for playing in the four-team tournament, which also involves the hosts, the Czech Republic and Uruguay.
But the FAW were reportedly set to suffer a £100,000 penalty if Bale, 28, did not play in the tournament.
Bale was a scoring substitute in Real’s remarkable 6-3 La Liga victory over Girona on Sunday night before taking a private jet to Luton Airport straight after the game.
He spent the night in Richmond and was at Heathrow early on Monday morning to board an 11.10am flight to Guangzhou, with the journey to the Chinese city taking 10-and-a-half hours. Bale then had to spend another four hours in transit before taking another flight to his final destination of Nanning.
He did not arrive at the team hotel until 1pm local time, but just over two hours later he was at Wales’ first China Cup training session at the Guangxi Sports Center. Bale’s commitment to the Welsh cause is a boost for new boss Ryan Giggs ahead of his first game in charge against China tomorrow.
He will pit his wits against World Cup-winning coach Marcello Lippi, who believes Giggs will prove a managerial success by following Sir Alex Ferguson’s methods.
The two men are familiar foes from the time when Lippi’s Juventus and Ferguson’s Manchester United were Champions League rivals.
“I want to meet Ryan because I remember when I was manager of Juventus at the end of the 90s, we played many matches during the Champions League. It was Juventus against Man United so many times,” said Lippi, 69, who won five Serie A titles before claiming World Cup glory with Italy in 2006. He took charge of China in October 2016. “He was an extraordinary player, very strong, I really like him. I hope he’ll become a very good coach as well, I wish him all the best, but I don’t feel I need to give him any advice.
“He had the best coach in Sir Alex Ferguson. He just needs to do what he learnt from him.”
Bale has succeeded Giggs as Wales’ most dangerous weapon, and Lippi, whose side are ranked 65th in the world, 45 places below Wales, said: “We all know Bale is a top player, but I’ll tell my players that we don’t have to focus on him. We have to focus on Wales because they have good players.
“Many people think there’s a big pressure for us to face a team like Wales, but we have to be smart to go through this kind of match because that is the only way we will improve. So I will tell my players to play as a team. The result is not important, for me it is how we play against this kind of opponent.”
Spurs left-back Ben Davies is relishing the new era in Welsh football after Giggs succeeded Chris Coleman in charge.
“I’m sure there are going to be new ideas and new systems in place with Ryan coming on board. I can’t wait to get going,” said Davies. “I met him at a Wales week in London where we were doing some profile-raising for Wales as a country over St David’s Day.
“It was nice to have a chat about the set-up and who was going to be involved. This week I’m sure we’ll be having sit-downs as individuals and talking about where we go on from here.
“Winning the tournament is the mentality we’ve got to have. That’s the right way to look at it.
“It’s a good chance to meet up with the squad and we’ve got some good young players coming through.
“Now is a good time to start to blood them in and give them the experience we need before the competitive games start.”
I hope Ryan will become a very good coach too