Despite scoring the winning goal in Sunday’s league win over Levante, it was Gareth Bale’s muted celebration which grabbed the headlines in Spain as he shunned the congratulations of Lucas Vazquez.
After Real boss Santiago Solari was faced with numerous questions in his pre-match press conference about dressing-room fallouts – with Bale central to the discussions – it was no surprise to see the Wales forward take his place on the bench once more, hours after he had been cleared to feature following another controversial celebration earlier in the month.
Bale – who has started just two of the last nine games – simply had to watch on as Real missed chance after chance in the first half, and the 29-year-old would be forgiven for thinking he could have converted at least one of those opportunities.
He eventually replaced Vazquez in the 68th minute, but was powerless to prevent what happened in the next five minutes as Barca scored twice to take the game beyond Real.
Going into Saturday’s Clasico at the Bernabeu, Solari will be faced with a stick or twist decision. Does he keep faith with Vinicius and Vazquez? Or will Bale, or even Marco Asensio, get the nod on the wings? Unless fatigue plays a part, you would suspect Solari will favour the former.