Why Real Madrid dont like Bale

Late last year, Gareth Bale won his third World Club Cup in Abu Dhabi. It was his 12th trophy in five years at Real Madrid. That haul includes four Champions Leagues, and in three of those European Cup finals he was decisive. On Sunday he scored his 99th Real Madrid goal.

Cristiano Ronaldo apart, there isn’t a Madrid Galatico import who can live with Bale’s record and he is Britain’s most successful football export by some distance. Yet when Spanish media polled fans towards the end of last year about who should be left out of the side to make way for the emerging Vinicius Junior, Bale came top. If the poll were carried out now the result might be different with Isco since having fallen out with some supporters. And the consolation for Bale as he ponders not having won hearts and minds at the Bernabeu is that no-one really does.

It still feels sometimes that he carries the can when he is not the guilty party. One columnist in a Spanish sports paper carried out an inquest into Real Madrid’s 3-0 Champions League defeat by CSKA Moscow in December; Bale did not start the game and only came on at half-time when the score was already 2-0; and yet he was the picture used in the full-page article. The caption read: ‘Bale complained of a pain in his ankle. Something bothered him. This little game did not interest him.’

He was accused of having embodied Madrid’s lethargy in what was their worst home result in the Champions League in their history. All this despite not being on the pitch in the first half and picking up an injury in the second. When he scored a hat-trick in the World Club Cup semi-final the reaction from some media was to question if he had not been saving himself for the tournament, instead of crediting him for having put Madrid in another final.

One of the reasons why the pressure mounts on Bale and the moans towards him this season have increased is the need for someone to step into the big personality void left by Ronaldo. The club elected not to sign anyone in the summer because they believed the arrival of an Eden Hazard would limit the opportunities for Isco and Marco Asensio. As it is, even without Hazard, both the Spanish youngsters, when fit, have been very underwhelming.

Isco in particular has endured a nightmare season. There was controversy earlier in the campaign when he appeared to decline the opportunity to wear the captain’s armband after Marcelino had been taken off in one game. The Real Madrid captain is always the player on the pitch who has been at the club the longest. It should have been Isco and his snub came after he appeared to confront supporters jeering him behind the goal after he scuffed a shot. The 26-year-old has long been the unquestioned darling of the home support.

If Isco can be criticised by home supporters then anyone can. This is a club where Zidane and Ronaldo also suffered the wrath of supporters. Ronaldo was booed at the Bernabeu long into his nine-season campaign. If he comes back in some capacity one day it’s debatable what the response would be. He recently talked up the atmosphere inside the Juventus dressing room to the detriment of the situation he says he left behind at Real. He has made enemies at the club by taking phsyio Javier Santamaria to Juventus with him.

The club have in turn taken him off the club TV channel as much as they possibly can. Any homage to any other player that might have previously included footage of Ronaldo providing an assist has been replaced with an assist from another player.

If Ronaldo’s legacy is questionable then what will Bale’s be? Ronaldo was almost ever present for Madrid after joining in 2009. But those 450 goals in 438 games have not been enough for them to commission a statute or rename a stand. Bale has been anything but ever present. Some hold the theory that it is that tendency to pick up injuries that sends his rating among supporters tumbling. Were he to run through brick walls for the cause would things be different?

The apparent physical frailties do affect his image but what Bale has nearly always managed to do is be fit for the big games. He returned for the Club World Cup semi-final against Kashima Antlers and hit a hat-trick in 60 minutes before playing the full game in the final against Al-Ain, claiming trophy No 12.

When he finally exits Madrid there will be plenty of silverware to haul back to Wales or wherever he next hangs the No 11 shirt. He will leave many of the Madrid supporters cold when he goes but he can leave them with a tweet full of trophy emojis too. Underwhelmed by Bale they may well be, but the expensive foreign imports that succeed him will do well to match his list of honours and judging by Madrid’s recent return to form he may not be finished yet