BEAUTY & THE BEASTS
Bale had just won the Champions League final with one of THE great goals but Real’s match-winner was completely SNUBBED by boss Zidane, leaving the Welshman fearing his time is up
GARETH BALE had just scored one of the best goals in Champions League history.
And yet what happened later in the dressing room only confirmed the worst fears of a player whose future at Real Madrid is hanging in the balance.
Incredibly, boss Zinedine Zidane snubbed his team’s match winner by not offering a word of thanks or congratulations.
Asked whether Zidane had said anything to him after the game, Bale shook his head. He said nothing? You have not spoken? “No,” Bale replied.
That says everything about Bale’s strained relationship with Zidane and why the Welshman believes he may have to quit the Bernabeu this summer.
After all, Bale had just been the two-goal hero of Real Madrid’s record-breaking 13th success in this competition and ensured they lifted the trophy for a third year in a row.
Yet Bale and his manager barely speak at the best of times. Bale is not convinced Zidane ever rated him but their relationship hit rock bottom this season, with the forward out of the team, unhappy at being played out of position or being left on the bench.
Bale, 29 in July, has four Champions League titles from his five years at Real Madrid, and is arguably British football’s most successful export ever. But he has grown frustrated under Zidane.
The French legend is now one of the most successful managers in history, which means there is only going to be one winner between him and an unhappy player.
Bale has struggled to be a regular starter, partly because of injury, and his disappointment was compounded by being on the bench in Kiev. Instead, he came on, scored a spectacular overhead kick and then embarrassed Loris Karius with a long-range effort to complete an incredible supersub performance.
The biggest issue is any Premier League club being able to afford his £650,000-a-week wages but Bale feels he should be at the peak of his career rather than sitting on the bench.
“I feel there’s still a lot more to give for me and that’s why I need to be playing week in and week out,” he said.
“I feel I should be playing week in and week out and I haven’t been. I haven’t been playing as much as I would like and I’m going to have to sit down in the summer and seriously think what move I’m going to make next.
“I feel like I was over my ankle injury around Christmas, it took a year after the surgery to fully recover but now I feel like I’m getting stronger and I feel like I’m getting better.
“As I said, at the end of the day, I will rest in the summer work out my next move and decide whether I stay or whether I go and see what’s what.”
Bale found himself on the bench again for the Champions League final and yet his goal will go down as one of the best