SUPER SNUB
Did Zidane blank Bale because Welshman’s wonder goal was even better than his Hampden heroics?
GARETH BALE had just scored one of the best goals in Champions League history.
And yet what happened next in the dressing room only confirmed Bale’s worst fears as his Real Madrid future hangs in the balance.
Incredibly, Zinedine Zidane did not say anything to Bale after the game, the Real Madrid boss snubbed his own matchwinner by not offering a word of thanks or congratulations.
When asked whether Zidane had said anything to him after the game, Bale just shook his head. He said nothing? You have not spoken? “No,” Bale replied.
That says everything about Bale’s strained and difficult relationship with Zidane and why the Welshman believes he may have to quit the Bernabeu this summer.
Bale had just been the two-goal hero of Real’s record 13th Champions League win and third in a row. Yet Bale and Zidane barely speak at the best of times.
Bale is not convinced Zidane ever rated him but their relationship has hit rock bottom this season with the Welshman out of the team and unhappy at being played out of position or being left on the bench.
Bale, 29 this summer, has won four Champions League titles in his five years at Real Madrid, is arguably British football’s most successful export of all time and yet has grown frustrated under Zidane.
Real Madrid legend Zidane is now one of the most successful managers in history and it means there is only going to be one winner between unhappy player and boss.
Bale has struggled to be a regular starter under Zidane in past year, partly because of injury, but his disappointment was compounded by not starting the Champions League Final.
Instead, Bale came off the bench, scored a wonder goal with his spectacular overhead kick then his long-range rocket embarrassed Loris Karius to complete his incredible supersub performance.
The biggest issue is any Premier League club being able to afford his staggering £650,000 a week wages. But Bale admits he feels he should be at the peak of his career rather than sitting on the bench.
He said: “I feel like there’s still a lot more to give for me and that’s why I need to be playing week in and week out and that’s what I need to be doing.
“I feel I should be playing week in and week out. But 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 consider 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’m getting stronger and getting better.
“At the end of the day I will rest in the summer, work out my next move, 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 in the competition’s history, arguably even better than Zidane’s for Real Madrid in the 2002 final at Hampden. Another reason why the Frenchman’s nose might have been put out of joint.
Despite the disappointment of not starting, Bale was intent on making his mark.
He said: “It’s an amazing achievement, an amazing