Osasuna - Real Madrid: Gareth Bale out injured once again

“Gareth Bale is not available for Real Madrid’s LaLiga matchday 33 game this evening against Osasuna at El Sadar.” That’s all that the club were willing to reveal in their early morning announcement about the Welsh forward. No further information was given.

Another curious case with Bale

That brief text came despite Bale being included in the matchday squad on Tuesday. And its brevity was in response to the fact that the player, several months ago, asked the club for privacy regarding his injuries. As we at AS have learned, however, what the player is claiming is discomfort in his left leg; but nothing serious.

This is the 29th time he has been left out of a squad this season. So far he has only played 270 official minutes, 193 of which came in the first three rounds of La Liga. Since then he has only started once, at La Cerámica, where he played as striker.

As a substitute he has started three games: 3′ in Paris, 4′ in London and 16′ against Getafe. He scored one goal, in the second matchday, against Levante, in the Ciutat de Valencia (3-3). It’s fair to say that no one would even be talking about him given this involvement if he wasn’t such a high-profile, incredibly paid player.

Bale’s seventh injury

The 32-year old’s medical report is extensive, with this being his seventh ‘injury’ so far this season.

At the beginning of September he suffered a knee injury that kept him out for 58 days. He returned and, just seven days later, he was back in the infirmary with pain in his calf. Just before Christmas he was absent for ten days due to coronavirus and just after coming out of quarantine, he was absent for another 20 days due to back problems, the same ones that kept him out of El Clásico just a few hours before it was due to take place.

Before that, he missed the visit to Vallecas due to “muscular discomfort” and now, these are in his left leg.

Welsh fans must be delighted that these discomforts tend not to appear when it’s time for national duty.