Real Madrid: Zidane giving no assurances over Gareth Bale
The Bernabéu jeered the Welshman's every touch in the victory over Eibar during which the forward lost the ball 21 times and missed 68% percent of his passes.
The last three games of the season at the Bernabéu could be very long for Gareth Bale, who has been subjected to jeers and whistles for most of the season at home and on Saturday was hounded from the third minute until his eventual substitution in Real’s comeback victory over Eibar.
While Karim Benzema has spent the last few weeks in a state of grace, leading to redemption from the notoriously prickly Bernabéu stands, Bale has been in wretched form and on Saturday the Welshman posted figures that would make an amateur blush. In his 77 minutes on the pitch Bale lost the ball on 21 occasions and completed just 32 percent of his passes. As a comparison, Real’s average this season is 86 percent per game.
In a microcosm of his recent performances, Bale was running through the central defenders to meet a pass when the ball hit his heel and went in the opposite direction.
Zidane won't be drawn on Bale's Madrid future
The fans have been on Bale’s back for weeks and the Welshman is also under the scrutiny of Zinedine Zidane and the board. Asked about Bale’s future after the Eibar game, the Real manager did not go out of his way to give the payer any assurances: “We’ll see if he stays or not. I can’t say what will happen. He has two years left on his contract. It’s not the time to talk about this.”
With seven games of the season remaining, Bale has little time to win over a support that appears to have given up on him, despite his undeniable service to the club since he joined in 2013. In the meantime, it will be instructive to see if the forward goes out of his way to get booked if he features at Leganés in a week’s time: one caution will mean he can sit out Real’s next home game against Athletic on 21 April.