MADRID KEEPER COURTOIS TELLS OF GARETH’S PAIN IN SPAIN REAL PROBLEMS FOR BALE AT BERNABEU
THIBAUT COURTOIS has revealed that Gareth Bale is still struggling to adapt to the Spanish way of life – almost six years after joining Real Madrid.
Real Madrid keeper Courtois, the Belgium star who has been flashing the cash on private jets and high-powered sports cars since joining them in a £35million deal from Chelsea last summer, has described Bale as the loner of the Bernabeu dressing room.
He says the golf-obsessed Welshman even refuses to have dinner with the rest of Santiago Solari’s squad when they go out on bonding sessions.
And in the week when Brazil defender Marcelo claimed Bale hardly speaks a word of Spanish, Courtois, 26, suggested Real’s fourtime Champions League winner is not making the most of his talent.
Courtois, asked for a take on his team-mates, called captain Sergio Ramos “a leader”, said Marcelo is known as “Samba” because of his artistry on the ball and hailed Luka Modric as “a genius”.
But when asked about Bale, he answered: “The golfer.” Courtois explained: “It is very hard to describe Gareth in one word. I would say he has so much talent but that it is such a shame that so often that talent is blocked from shining.”
He added: “I live like somebody who is born and bred in Madrid. I eat late, I go bed late...it is their way of life. The other night we had a dinner with the entire squad.
“But Bale and Toni Kroos did not turn up. They reckoned the dinner was too late at night.
“We had arranged to be in the restaurant at 9.30pm and we started our meal around 10.15pm and by midnight we were having coffee.
“We go to bed at around 1am. We have to train every morning at 11am. I think that is a perfect time.
“But Bale had told us, ‘I am not coming to join you, guys. I go to bed at 11’.”
Bale, who became the world’s most expensive player when he moved to Madrid from Tottenham in the summer of 2013, has been constantly linked with moves back to the Premier League.
He admitted himself that he was being frozen out at the Bernabeu during Zinedine Zidane’s two-year stint as coach.
Bale, 29, has also suffered with constant injury problems. But he has won the Champions League four times, as well as La Liga and the Spanish Cup.
And the sensational overhead kick he scored in the Champions League Final victory over Liverpool last season has guaranteed him legendary status at the club.
Madrid are on course to reach the quarter-finals of Europe’s elite club competition again after their 2-1 first leg last-16 midweek win at Ajax.