Heinz legs: Crouch reveals secret to Bale's awesome pace
Peter Crouch has revealed the apparent secret to Gareth Bale's footballing prowess, although it is unknown if the Welshman keeps up the same pre-match routine at Real Madrid.
It seems that the magical properties of beans is not just a thing of fairy tales, if former Premier League striker Peter Crouch is to be believed.
The ex-England international shared a dressing room with Gareth Bale for two seasons at Spurs before moving to Stoke in 2011, during which time he apparently learned the secret to the Welshman's success – eating baked beans on toast before games.
So convinced was Crouch that Bale’s footballing strengths came from a tin of beans that he also started to partake in the same eating ritual.
No gym for Bale, just beans - says Crouch
“I watched Bale flying up and down for Spurs and ripping Maicon to shreds against Inter with high-intensity running. I thought, ‘How does he do it?’,” the retired footballer recalled in an interview with FourFourTwo magazine.
“So I started watching him really closely. He didn’t go to the gym and just ate beans on toast, so I started doing the same.”
“I thought, ‘Well I can do the no gym stuff, no problem - and beans on toast, I like beans. I went for it, but some beans have more magic than other beans, I suppose.”
Scholes was also pre-match bean eater
Crouch also revealed that Bale is not the only star footballer to have regularly sat down to beans on toast before games, so too did retired Manchester United legend, Paul Scholes.
“I actually spoke to Paul Scholes recently and asked him what his pre-match meal was,” siad Crouch.
“He said: 'baked beans on toast’ - exactly the same as Gareth.”
Has Bale kept up the ritual at Real Madrid?
It’s unknown if Bale continues to eat the British staple before Real Madrid games. Baked beans in tomato ketchup is certainly not a popular dish among Spaniards, though you can, somewhat inexplicably, find tins of Heinz baked beans in most supermarkets in the Spanish capital.
And while Bale’s pre-match ritual rubbed off on his former team mate Crouch, it is hard to imagine the likes of Sergio Ramos, Marcelo and Karim Benzema chowing down on ketchup-soaked legumes on toast before heading out to play at the Bernabéu.