Bale going to Club World Cup, confirms Zidane
Zinedine Zidane suspects Saturday's Sevilla game may come too soon for Gareth Bale, but he will be involved at the Club World Cup.
Gareth Bale will travel with Real Madrid to Abu Dhabi for the Club World Cup as he looks to get his injury-hit campaign back on track, Zinedine Zidane has confirmed.
The Wales international has endured a torrid time with injuries over the last year and suffered another setback after his most-recent return in the Copa Del Rey draw with Fuenlabrada – Bale having a hand in both goals as Madrid progressed 4-2 on aggregate.
Despite his impressive display from the bench, Bale was absent for Saturday's 0-0 draw with Athletic Bilbao due to a calf problem.
The forward will definitely miss Madrid's Champions League clash with Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, and Zidane is still uncertain whether he could face Sevilla in LaLiga this weekend.
Zidane does expect him to feature in the Club World Cup, though, with Madrid waiting to find out who their semi-final opponents will be on December 13.
"I don't know yet, we'll see if there's an option for him to play against Sevilla," Zidane told reporters ahead of Dortmund's visit.
"He hasn't trained with us yet, so we'll need to wait and see. He's training on his own and as soon as he's back we'll see what he's capable of.
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
"But he'll definitely come to Abu Dhabi."
‘Arteta, Alonso, Emery, me… none of us were physical players – we needed the understanding of the game. That probably helped us move into management’: Premier League boss reveals reasons for natural career progression
‘England have the players to win the World Cup – it’ll be tough for Thomas Tuchel to do a bad job, with the squad he has at his disposal’ Former Three Lions winger backs new boss after gentle qualifying draw