Gareth Bale’s agent has “no worries” about fury of Real Madrid fans after flag celebration
The agent of Gareth Bale has insisted the Wales star isn’t concerned by a potential backlash from Real Madrid fans after his controversial flag celebration.
Bale was pictured laughing with his Welsh team-mates with a banner that said: “Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order” after securing Euro 2020 qualification with a 2-0 win over Hungary on Tuesday.
The images were badly received in Spain, with newspaper Marca’s front-page headline on Thursday saying: “Disrespectful. Misguided. Ungrateful. In that order”.
It also went down badly with the club, while the incident is likely to worsen the already fragile relationship between Bale and the Real Madrid fans.
However, his agent Jonathan Barnett told ESPN FC he has “no worries” about the reaction of the fans when the Merengues welcome Real Sociedad to the Bernabeu on Saturday.
Barnett insisted that the gesture was “meant for the media” and not aimed at Real Madrid or its supporters.
Bale re-joined training in Spain on Thursday and is likely to feature against Sociedad, after not featuring for the club since picking up an injury on international duty in October.
Last week the former Tottenham forward raised eyebrows by admitting he gets “more excitement playing for Wales” than Real Madrid.
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The 30-year-old has been linked with a January move away from the club, but coach Zinedine Zidane has been firm in saying he will stay put until the end of the season.
Bale came close to a departure to China over the summer, before the La Liga outfit pulled out of a deal late on.
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Alasdair Mackenzie is a freelance journalist based in Rome, and a FourFourTwo contributor since 2015. When not pulling on the FFT shirt, he can be found at Reuters, The Times and the i. An Italophile since growing up on a diet of Football Italia on Channel 4, he now counts himself among thousands of fans sharing a passion for Ross County and Lazio.