Carlo Ancelotti wore that familiar expression – a mixture of the quizzical and the exasperated. The Real Madrid manager knew the inside story. Outside the press conference room at the Juventus Stadium, after Real’s 2-1 loss in the Champions League semi-final first leg, a storm was swirling, one of those that whip up around strident punditry and the fierce emotion of social media. The target was Gareth Bale, who had been dreadfully disappointing up front for Real.
Ancelotti was unconcerned. He knew the reality of the situation. Bale was not fully fit. The forward had returned as a 66th-minute substitute at Sevilla on Saturday after a couple of weeks out with a calf problem and anybody who knows Bale will tell you that he needs time to rediscover not just his rhythm but, essentially, the trust in his body.
The thing with Bale is that for him to fire in trademark style, everything has to be in perfect sync. He is fastidious about his physical preparations, a legacy of the career-threatening ankle injury he suffered in December 2007, which required two operations, the insertion of a metal pin and eight months on the sidelines. It was no great leap to watch him against Juventus and conclude that he had not been entirely comfortable in himself.
Tired
The result was a strangely timid performance, in which he sought the safe option on the all-too-infrequent occasions that he had the ball. He won an early free-kick on the edge of the Juventus area, which Cristiano Ronaldo banged into the wall, and there was the whipped cross from the right towards the end that Ronaldo just could not reach. But the pickings were slim. The driving, swashbuckling Bale was awol, so much so that Ancelotti was asked whether he had substituted him after 86 minutes because he had played “extraordinarily badly”. “He was tired,” Ancelotti replied, with that Ancelotti look. “He’s just come back from an injury and he’s too important for us [to risk]. He’s our most dangerous player and, because he was tired, I preferred not to take any risks with him. So I took him off.”
Bale departed the stadium through the mixed zone without breaking stride. He was never going to offer any interviews, even though his voice might have served to shape the narrative in a slightly kinder way for him. Instead, he resembled a sitting duck – despite Ancelotti’s defence – and the fire was heavy, notably from the TV pundits. Roy Keane and Paul Scholes said he had not turned up; that Real had played with 10 men. Even Phil Neville had a pop.
The trouble for Bale was that he picked a terrible night for a non-performance. The occasion was almost impossibly grand – a classic clash between two of Europe’s glamour clubs – and it served to magnify the scrutiny. But Bale and scrutiny have long gone hand-in-hand and the impression this season is that it has been unforgiving on him.
His bad moments have been remorselessly highlighted – the booing of him by a section of the Real support; his car being attacked after the loss to Barcelona in March; his passing up of a big chance in the Champions League quarter-final first leg at Atlético Madrid. And now this. The contrast to last season, when he was a Copa del Rey- and Champions League-winning hero, feels pronounced.
It is possible to sense the formation of a damaging cycle – one from which he must free himself – and, associated with this, there have been the inevitable questions about his future at the club.
Wants to stay put
The first thing to say is that Bale does not want to leave. He fought too hard for what was the dream move from Tottenham Hotspur in September 2013 – for a world record £86m fee – and he does not want to look elsewhere after only two seasons. Bale likes Madrid and the life he has built there but, most important for a guy who dedicates himself to football, he loves playing for Real, alongside some of the finest players in the world.
There has been talk of perceived friction with Ronaldo, including the question as to why Bale did not attend the Portuguese’s birthday party in February. But this kind of glitz is simply not for the Welshman. Ronaldo can also throw his hissy fits in front of goal when he does not get the ball but Bale has no problems with him.
How the transfer market spins is another matter and, with Real interested in the Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea, the Premier League club have, in turn, asked the question of them about Bale’s availability in the summer. United made an offer to Tottenham for Bale of £100m plus the striker Javier Hernández in the summer of 2013 but the player had his heart set on Real. Hernández, coincidentally, is now on loan from United at the Bernabéu.
De Gea’s future remains unclear but United, sensibly, are making contingency plans. They have sounded out Hugo Lloris, who has grown frustrated at the lack of Champions League football at Tottenham and is ready to move to a bigger club this summer.
Bale will simply focus on the next training session, on retuning and refiring his confidence. Huge tests lie ahead, with the crunch league fixture at home to Valencia on Saturday being followed by the return against Juventus next Wednesday. All eyes will be on Bale.
Guardian Services
