Real Madrid: Zinedine Zidane should not and will not defend Gareth Bale
By Ben Sundock
“Wales, Golf, Madrid. In that order.” As a defender of Gareth Bale for years, I have now given up hope the forward will remain with Real Madrid past this season. He has now lost the fans’ support and he most certainly has lost the support of his manager Zinedine Zidane.
Call it banter, call it frustration, call it a moment of confusion, it doesn’t matter. As Gareth Bale and his Welsh teammates celebrated qualifying for Euro 2020 in Cardiff on Tuesday night after a 2-0 win over Hungary, the flag that the forward stood behind set Twitter and the European football world ablaze.
As he laughed and jumped for joy, the attention was all on the customized Welsh flag that read, “Wales, Golf, Madrid. In that Order.” This is the straw that will break the camel’s back. Like I said, of course it is intended to be a joke, but looking at the bigger picture here will makes you realize that this was an incredibly poor decision from Gareth.
Not a week ago, the Real Madrid forward said he feels, “more excitement playing for Wales” than he does for the club that pays him over $20 million every season. Yes, Bale is being paid all this money and he hasn’t played for Zidane and Los Blancos since October 5 in a 4-2 win over Granada.
Gareth Bale has such a bad relationship with the Real Madrid fans and the Spanish media everyone seems to be ignoring the fact that the forward has scored the game-winning goal in two Champions League finals and a Copa del Rey final as well.
Even though the start to this season was great, Zinedine Zidane will not and frankly should not defend Bale from the media and fans’ wrath. Why should he?
The Real Madrid number 11 has time and again shown that he cares very little for his public perception and it could derail his career prematurely. Bale has failed to become fluent in Spanish despite spending five years with the club, he was pictured golfing during a Real Madrid preseason match this summer, he left the stadium early during the UCL loss to Ajax nearly a year ago, and now, he has said he enjoys playing for Wales more than he does for Real Madrid.
At this point, the question of whether or not Bale should stay comes down to his behavior and has nothing to do with skill. I think for the most part, Zidane has been fair towards Bale, excluding leaving him on the bench for the Champions League final against Liverpool where Gareth scored a crucial brace.
Zizou has more than enough options on who to play on the right wing with Rodrygo shining, Vinicius Junior chomping at the bit to show his worth, and Brahim Diaz trying to prove himself having yet to see a minute of competitive play this season.
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Sometimes, personal circumstances outweigh the skill of a player and Gareth Bale has fallen victim to this at Real Madrid. I love his play style, but I must say, the off-field drama has grown to be too much.
Zidane is not the kind of manager who will let his players behave in such a way, but I don’t think any disciplinary action will be taken against Gareth Bale. One thing is for sure, however, Real Madrid will no longer have Bale by this time a year from now and that shouldn’t surprise anyone.
Zinedine Zidane should be happy with his current squad and he is most likely ready to wash his hands of the whole situation.