Gareth Bale Could Anger Cristiano Ronaldo With Remarks About His Real Madrid Exit
What's the story?
Last season, Real Madrid made history by becoming the first ever team to win three consecutive UEFA Champions League trophies in the history of the game. Soon after their triumph, both Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale put their Real Madrid futures in doubt, setting the rumour mills ablaze.
Eventually, Bale decided to stick it out at Madrid under their new manager, Julen Lopetegui, while Ronaldo headed to the Serie A in the hunt for a new challenge with Juventus.
Now, Bale has opened up about his feelings in an interview with The Daily Mail and controversially stated that Madrid are more "relaxed" now, and have greater team spirit than they did with Ronaldo in the side.
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Bale had been forced to operate from under Ronaldo's shadow while the latter was at the club, often coming off the bench in most games and was clearly frustrated about not being a regular starter in the team under Madrid's former manager, Zinedine Zidane.
However, since Ronaldo's departure, Bale has become the centre-piece in Madrid's attack and seems to be thriving under Lopetegui's managerial leadership. The Welshman has already scored 3 goals in 4 LaLiga appearances this season, finally finding his own share of the spotlight.
The heart of the matter
While Bale seems to be in dazzling form at the moment, Ronaldo has clearly struggled at Juventus. Despite finally getting off the mark with a brace against Sassuolo last night, Ronaldo admitted to feeling anxious about his form.
In the aforementioned interview, Bale revealed that he was, in fact, rather unhappy about being left on the bench for the final of the UEFA Champions League last season against Liverpool.
"Angry. Quite angry, to be honest", he said about starting the final on the bench.
"Obviously, I felt I deserved to start the game. I'd been scoring goals. So yeah, I suppose it was hard to put the anger aside."
When Bale was asked about how Real Madrid are now coping without Ronaldo, the 29-year-old took the opportunity to express himself by saying:
"Obviously, it's going to be a little different from having such a big player there, It's maybe a bit more relaxed, yes.
I suppose there is more of a team, more working as one unit rather than one player."
Previously, there had always been plenty of talk about how Ronaldo was more about himself rather than team spirit and Bale's recent comments are bound to add fuel to the fire.
Video: How Bale translated his anger into a match-winning performance
What's next?
Bale's thoughts and opinions will invariably find their way to Ronaldo and only time will tell if and how the Portuguese star will decide to respond.