Gareth Bale frustrated by lack of Real Madrid game time

Gareth Bale is extremely frustrated with his lack of playing time at Real Madrid but remains happy at the club and has no plans to push for a move.

Bale was an unused substitute on Wednesday at Bayern Munich, where Real Madrid won 2-1 in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final, raising renewed questions about his long-term future at the Bernabeu.

Lucas Vazquez and Isco were selected ahead of Bale, and Marco Asensio, who came on at the start of the second half and scored the winning goal, and Karim Benzema were preferred as an attacking option from the bench.

Bale is bitterly disappointed to be out of the team and it is starting to look as though he does not fit into Zinedine Zidane’s plans, but sources close to the player insist he is determined to fight for his place and has no interest in pursuing a move at the end of the season.

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The 29-year-old has a lucrative contract that runs until 2022, is settled in Madrid with his family and loves playing for the club.

Zidane said after the Bayern game that he would be “relying” on Bale in the weeks to come, yet it felt significant that the manager made three substitutions without calling on the Welshman, especially on the back of the quarter-final second leg against Juventus, when Bale was withdrawn at half-time.

There is a school of thought that Zidane – who is expected to retain his job irrespective of whether Madrid win the Champions League – prefers attacking players who are more defensive-minded than Bale.

Even if Bale does become available this summer, there are doubts as to whether a Premier League club would be able to match his financial package. Manchester United have long appeared to be Bale’s most likely suitors in England, with the club indicating towards the end of last year that they were determined to sign him and not put off by his injury problems.

Yet that trail appears to have gone cold for now, perhaps because of the big-money arrival of former Arsenal player Alexis Sanchez in January.

Either way, Bale is understood to be thinking only of playing for Madrid and trying to help the club he joined in 2013 for a then world-record fee win a third successive Champions League.

– Guardian