Gareth Bale has NEVER been loved in Madrid but he won’t waste any time trying to win them over

Gareth Bale was never taken to heart in Madrid after he scored a last minute winner, running from the halfway line, against Barcelona in the Spanish cup final, so it was never going to happen when he wasn’t even playing.

Only Cristiano Ronaldo has scored more goals in Champions League finals than Bale, and Bale has scored them all for Real Madrid, but most fans and media, seemed more obsessed in the early days with the fact that he had never given in an interview in Spanish.

Remember all those fabulously long in depth interviews David Silva gave in English while at Manchester City? No because there weren’t any. But there is still a statue outside the stadium of him earned by everything he did on the pitch.

Bale won’t waste any time trying to win people over. He has zero interest in changing minds made up long ago. If Wales reach the World Cup finals a more pressing concern will be where he plays when the new club season starts.

It looks like a four-month deal somewhere that sees him up to the November tournament will be what he looks for if Wales reach Qatar and there will be no shortage of offers from clubs happy for him to use them to stay fit so long as there are a few goals like Thursday night in return. 

It’s not out of the question that that short term deal would be somewhere in Spain where he and has family have always been happy.

What kind of reception would he get if he plays at the Bernabeu for another club? Well it couldn’t be that much worse than some of the welcomes they gave him when he was in their club colours.

In one game in November 2019 he was even whistled while setting up a goal. He had come on as a substitute and the assist came while the jeers as he ran down the wing and crossed were still audible. ‘I hope this does not keep up the whole season,’ said then coach Zinedine Zidane on the night.

That game was the first since the flag incident. The ‘Wales, golf, Madrid’ slogan had actually been coined by one of his critics on Spanish radio and adopted by Bale when humour seemed the best way respond.

Sadly they only really found it funny in Barcelona where he has become something of a cult-hero for taking on the vitriol.

The Barça fans lapped up his post match interview on Thursday night when he told those responsible for the ‘parasite’ line they should be ashamed of themselves. 

In part their adoration comes from buying into the theory that he has saved himself for Wales over the last three seasons at huge expense to Real Madrid. 

That theory that he picks his games seemed to start around the time of the 2018 Club World Cup. He scored a hat-trick against Kashima Antlers in the semi-final and there was no praise on Spanish radio, just an accusation that he saved himself for big games instead of forcing himself to play every week.

It was a strange reaction to what was another big performance in an important game. Had he made an effort to make friends in the media the relationship might have been different.

David Beckham won just one La Liga in Spain and he was also no more able to give interviews in Spanish than Bale, and yet he charmed journalists and his team-mates alike.

Beckham had Roberto Carlos and Ronaldo Nazario covering his back, Bale, while respected and liked – as seen on Thursday night with David Alaba’s reaction at full-time – does not have the same influential backing.

The one time the players did began to speak in his favour, off the record to reporters covering the team, was when comparisons began to be drawn between Bale and Eden Hazard.

Their off-the-record comments amounted to: Bale has played a massive part in winning things. Hazard will do well to even close to his trophy haul when he finishes.

One radio presenter once referred to Bale as the club’s ‘most disappointing signing of the last decade’ – a ludicrous accusation for a player who will leave at the end of the season having won more trophies than Zidane, provided more assists than Beckham, and scored more goals than the Brazilian Ronaldo.

What the immediate future brings will depend largely on Carlo Ancelotti. He looks daft for using Bale so rarely since he gave him his first start for six months back in February and then not using him since.

Bale had hit the bar in that game and forced three top saves from Villarreal keeper Gero Rulli as Madrid suffered without the injured Karim Benzema.

It was enough to suggest he was ready for more game time but it never came. At the weekend Ancelotti said Bale’s absence from the squad was down to him not feeling 100 percent.

The fact that he then looked 100 per cent as Wales overcame Austria inspired the latest round of accusations. The headline ‘It doesn’t hurt now’ was a reference to that.

May be it is that simple. That a player who has had terrible luck with injuries finds a way to carry on regardless when it’s for his country, where he is loved, and not for his club where he isn’t.