Gareth Bale plays golf instead of line up for Real Madrid vs Man City
Bale opts for golf course instead of football pitch just hours before Real Madrid's crunch Champions League tie vs Manchester City...
Gareth Bale has been spotted playing golf just hours before his side Real Madrid's crunch Champions League tie against Manchester City on Friday night.
Bale reportedly told his manager Zinedine Zidane he did not want to travel with the squad to play in the match at City's Etihad Stadium after concluding he would not play a single minute of the game.
Instead of fly over to Manchester with the rest of the squad, Spanish TV channel El Chiringuito de Jugones showed Bale instead opted for a round of golf.
Pendant ce temps Gareth Bale joue tranquillement au golf...#MCIRMA #UCL #ManchesterCityRealMadrid
pic.twitter.com/aOhCNLBhIl— Sport’Actus (@Sport_ActusOff) August 7, 2020
"It was a personal conversation I had with him," Zidane told the media in his pre-match press conference of Bale's exclusion from the travelling squad. "He preferred not to play. The rest remains between me and him but he said he did not want to play."
Zidane was then asked about Bale's future at Real Madrid, to which he responded: "I don't know. Now he is a current player at Real Madrid. That has not changed. He is our player."
He added: "I respect that and I respect him, like everyone else. He preferred not to play. That is the only thing I can tell you. The rest of us are all here, preparing for the game. The only thing we are concentrating on is the game."
“Clearly it’s the end of the road for Gareth Bale at Madrid.”
“He has to take a [financial] hit and move on with his career!”
“Gareth, I know you love your golf but you must love your football too!”
Ally McCoist pleads with Gareth Bale to force his way to a new club. pic.twitter.com/IyGOXSQINY— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) August 6, 2020
Bale, 30, is an avid golfer with a reported handicap of five, and he even has three par-3 holes in his garden that are replicas of the 12th at Augusta, Royal Troon's Postage Stamp and the Island Green 17th at TPC Sawgrass.
He came came under fire by some in the football world last year when holding a flag with the words: 'Wales. Golf. Madrid. In That Order', and many of his critics believe he would rather be on the golf course than on a football pitch.
