GIGGSY’S GAME

Ryan yoga plan for Bale

WALES boss Chris Coleman admits Gareth Bale may have to take lessons from Ryan Giggs to put his injury woes behind him.

The Real Madrid star is likely to be sidelined until the new year after suffering a thigh injury just days after returning from a calf problem.

Ryan Giggs, 43, took up Pilates and yoga to beat his injury demons and Coleman reckons Bale, 28, may have to adapt his training regime as he gets older.

He said: “I found out about the injury just before the game, I don’t know the full extent of it. He’ll be devastated himself.

“Some players, as they get older, change their schedule. That’s up to him and

Real Madrid.

“When he’s with us all our players have different programmes at different times of the week because we know what they do with their clubs.

“We have to make sure that we taper that in with the way we work.”

Giggs (above) had his international career interrupted by injury before he retired from Wales duty in 2007.

He went on to star in the red shirt of Manchester United for another seven years, becoming the most decorated player in English football history.

Bale has missed 40 of Real Madrid’s last 60 matches as well as crucial World Cup qualifiers against Ireland, Serbia and Georgia.

But Coleman has backed him to get over his latest issue and insists he should not be labelled as an injury-prone player for the rest of his career. He said: “I think players can go through spells when they’ve been out with an injury, they get referrals and then they get this, that and the other.

“The harder you try to get back you get a setback and sometimes you have to go through that. He’ll get over and he’ll be back.

“He just needs to get settled again and get his fitness. He needs to take his time and not rush himself back.

“Any player will tell you they want to be on the pitch and not in the treatment room.” Luckily for Wales, their next meaningful fixtures come at the China Cup in March. Coleman’s men face Uruguay and Czech Republic as well as hosts China in a week-long mini tournament.

And the Wales boss will have no worries about taking his talisman to the Far East.

He said: “It all depends on his fitness whether he’ll travel.

“Hopefully he gets back before Christmas or just after and then we’ve got two or three months before the China Cup.

“We expect all our players if they are fit to play for their club then they are fit to play for us.

“We never take risks, we’ve never done that and I don’t see that changing in the future. If he’s fit for Madrid then obviously he’s fit for us.”