"Gareth Bale needs to copy Cristiano if he wants to stay at Real Madrid" - Toshack
Former Real Madrid and Wales coach John Toshack advises Bale that he should try and emulate Cristiano Ronaldo and become the team's leader.
Former Real Madrid and Wales coach John Benjamin Toshack, who handed Gareth Bale his senior international debut, feels that the player needs to take a leaf out of Cristiano Ronaldo's book if he is serious about staying on with the Spanish giants: “Cristiano plays as a winger, scores and sets up goals for the others. There's no doubt that Gareth is one of the best players of all time. If he wants to continue there, he should try and copy what Cristiano does. If you look at what he's achieved, it makes you wonder what he would have done if he hadn't been so unlucky with injuries”.
Different role at Real Madrid
Toshack, who has been critical about Bale at certain moments in the past, went on to add: "So obviously, with the experience he has, maybe he can drop off a little and play short balls, drop deeper and read the game more. I hope that he goes on to do more than he's done so far, because when you come back from an injury, you know that you have to start all over again. As for getting back to full fitness, he's got to do that all over again and it's something he's had to do two or three times every season which sets him back. It's been very difficult for him and as I say, he deserves credit for the way he's persevered. What we could never have really imagined were the injury problems he's had. I mean he's lost almost as many games as he's played and clearly that's hampered his progress a little bit”.
