Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti says Gareth Bale missed the club's LaLiga celebrations last weekend because he 'couldn't move'.
Bale was absent from the festivities at the Santiago Bernabeu last weekend after Real Madrid thrashed Espanyol 4-0 to wrap up the title.
"So disappointed that I’m not able to be part of the celebrations this evening due to a bad back spasm but really proud of the team for winning the title," Bale wrote on Twitter in a post which featured a picture of the whole Real Madrid squad - except for him.
The post was met with ridicule and rage by many Madrid fans and even some journalists, with Bale deemed by many to be disinterested in the occasion and making up excuses for his absence.
But Ancelotti says the 32-year-old was in genuine pain and physically unable to take part in the celebrations.
"There is no distance in the dressing room," the Italian said on Saturday when it was put to him by a journalist that there is no longer a good relationship between Bale and his team-mates.
"They all have affection for him.
"Bale wasn't there because he couldn't move."
And he added: "It has happened to me before. When you're back is blocked, you can't move..."
Bale is out of contract in June and will leave Real Madrid this summer, with the Welsh winger now likely to have played his last match for Los Blancos.
