Zinedine Zidane says he will not stop Wales star Gareth Bale from playing golf in his spare time.
Bale – who will miss Real Madrid’s LaLiga home match with Espanyol on Saturday through injury – admits playing golf is his passion and that his team-mates have nicknamed him ‘The Golfer’.
Wales are set to prevent Bale from playing golf during Euro 2020 next summer, with manager Ryan Giggs insisting the players’ focus must be on football and not other activities.
Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane says he will not stop Gareth Bale from playing golf in his spare time (Nick Potts/PA)
And Zidane was asked at his pre-match press conference whether Real would follow suit and stop Bale from spending time on the golf course when he is in Spain.
“I’m going to give you my reply, the club might say something different,” Real manager Zidane said.
“I’m not going to stop any of my players from doing anything in their free time.
“They are older and each one knows what he has to do.”
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Bale started his first club game since October 5 last weekend as Real won 2-1 at Alaves.
In that time Bale, who was troubled by a calf injury, started four games for Wales as the Dragons secured Euro 2020 qualification.
Bale has now suffered a fresh fitness blow, his latest injury coming after the player’s agent Jonathan Barnett said his client – who has had a difficult relationship with Zidane – is “not ecstatic” at the club.
“It (the injury) occurred in the Alaves match,” Zidane said.
“We had two and a half days of rest and on the way back he suffered.
“The important thing is to be good all season – from beginning to end,” Zidane said.
“What we intended was to start well and continue this way until the end.
“The stretch until Christmas is very important for us.”
Espanyol have lost four of their last five games, picking up only one point in a home draw with Getafe.
Belgium’s Eden Hazard has been ruled out of action for Real Madrid until the new year (Bradley Collyer/PA)
It is a run which has left them one place off the bottom of the five table and five points from safety.
“I hope that things cannot get any worse – otherwise we’re going to have a hard time of it,” Espanyol head coach Pablo Machin said after the 4-2 home defeat to Osasuna last weekend.
“We can’t keep being so vulnerable, at the moment we’re handing opportunities to our opponents on a plate, and we can’t compete like that.
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