A bad month for Real Madrid winger Gareth Bale got much worse on Tuesday, as the Real-leaning Spanishsports daily AS released a survey in which a whopping 68 percent of its readers said they want to see the Welshman dropped from coach Carlo Ancelotti’sstarting eleven. That’s up from the 46 percent of readers who wanted to see him dropped afterReal’s 1-0 loss at Athletic Bilbao on March 7.
To be sure, Bale has been in poor form for the reigning European champ recently; his two goals against Levante are the former Spurs man’sonly offensive contributions to the Merengue cause over the last ten games in all competitions. He is also falling short of last year’s output: in 44 appearances in all competitions last year,Bale scored 22 goals and added 16 assists. So far this year he has 18 goals and seven assists in 43 total appearances.
Aside from a goal disallowed for offside and one very good missedchance in the first half, Bale was anonymous in Sunday’s 2-1 loss against Barcelona in ‘El Clasico’. According to AS, the Welshman completed just 58 percent of hispasses, giving the ball away 17 times. In the second half, he completed just seven total passes (even Barca midfielder Xavi completed 15 in his 10-minute cameo), failing to stepinside the opponent’s penalty area after the 46th minute.
Upon returning from Barcelona,
Having tried to stay behind Fernando Torres foryears (when he was with Chelsea, of course), Off The Post certainly understands when fans grow tired of players under-performing — but all this for a bad month or two?
First of all, let itnot be forgotten, Madridista fans, that this is the man who scored the winning goal in both the UEFA Champions League and Spanish Cup finals last season. And while Bale’s numbers may becomparatively down this year, there is still a quarter of the season left to play, and he’s still just 25. For his youth and terrifying speed alone, OTP can think of at least threesuper-wealthy European clubs that would happily pay 100 million euros to have Gareth Bale in their ranks.
Indeed, Marca, AS and the rest of Team Madridista better watch out,or they’re going to lose one of the world’s best young players. Having already won the UCL and Copa del Rey, Bale absolutely could, and possibly should, go elsewhere at the end of theseason given the vitriol he’s been forced to endure from Real’s spoiled, ungrateful supporters. Even if the capital club manages to win La Liga, that might only hasten his departure, sincethere would be no major trophies left for him to win in Spain.
sounds like this magazine is doing a sales job for a fellow UK citizen
The Real Madrid fans should direct their wrath at Perez, instead of Bale, for spending $110,000,000 on a $20,000,000 player.Also,claiming that Bale is the best British player really isn’t saying a whole lot considering his competition.At Tottenham in the EPL he was a big fish in a small pond whereas at Madrid in La Liga he’s an average fish in a large pool of sharks.