Gareth Bale preferred not to play against Manchester City, asserts Zinedine Zidane
With Gareth Bale the noticeable absentee from Real Madrid’s 24-man squad to face Manchester City, Zinedine Zidane confirmed that the Welshman had told him that he preferred not to play. The Los Blancos take on the Cityzens in the second leg of their round of 16 clash in the Champions League.
After Gareth Bale signed for Real Madrid in 2013, few would believe that seven years down the line, the Welshman would be on the fringes of the squad. That has been the story of most of this season with Bale still only at Madrid because of the season ending injury that Marco Asensio suffered at the beginning of the 2019/20 season. Yet despite that the 31-year-old made only sixteen appearances in the La Liga as the Los Blancos lifted the title, a list that includes just two games, and one start, after the restart.
He’s been on the fringes of the squad and with Real Madrid looking to add the Champions League to their list of trophies this term, the Welshman hasn’t been named in the squad to face Manchester City. The Times further reported that Bale asked to be excluded because he believed Zidane wouldn’t use him and Zidane admitted that the forward “preferred not to play”. He also added that he doesn’t know anything about Bale’s future barring the fact that he’s a Real Madrid player.
“The only thing to say — and this was in a personal conversation between us — is that he preferred not to play. The rest remains between me and him. I don’t want to add anything else. He’s not injured,” Zidane said in his pre-match press conference, reported the Times.
“This is the third question and I have told you what happened, nothing else. I don’t know (when asked about Bale’s future at the club). He is a current player of Real Madrid. That does not change anything. He is our player. I respect that, and him. He prefers not to play. That’s all I can say.”