Bale at risk of 12-match ban for gesture towards fans in Madrid derby
Gareth Bale faces a possible 12-game ban after being reported by La Liga to the Spanish Football Federation over his celebration in Real Madrid’s 3-1 derby win at Atletico Madrid on Saturday.
After scoring his side’s third goal in the 74th minute, the Real forward waved his right hand by his head before lowering the arm and then, as he began to raise it again, bringing his left hand down into the middle of it.
A statement on La Liga’s official website said: “In minute 73 of the game, after Bale scored his team’s third goal, some jeering is heard from the home crowd by the audiovisual recordings during the celebration. And he moves his right arm up towards his head in a signal of provocation towards the fans, creating a possibly obscene gesture by moving his other arm and striking halfway up his right arm.”
The statement included reference to a possible suspension of four to 12 games. The goal was the 29-year-old Wales international’s 100th for Real, whom he joined from Tottenham Hotspur in 2013.
Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos also risks being given an extra game suspension that would rule him out of a potential Champions League quarter-final, first leg after admitting he got booked on purpose in Wednesday’s match at Ajax.
With Madrid 2-1 up in the roundof-16 first leg, Ramos was shown a yellow card in the 89th minute, his third booking of the European campaign, which means he will be suspended from the second leg of the tie in the Spanish capital on Mar 5.
Should Real progress to the quarter-finals, Ramos would then have a clean slate for the final stretch of Europe’s elite competition, which his side have monopolised since 2016. In an extraordinary postmatch interview, Ramos said he had intentionally got himself booked against Ajax, which is against Uefa’s rules and punishable with a suspension of an extra game.