Cristiano Ronaldo has urged Real Madrid fans to get behind Gareth Bale after the Wales international has came under fire in Spain for being “greedy”.
Bale was jeered by some Madrid supporters at the Bernabeu at the weekend when, instead of laying up what could have been a tap-in for Ronaldo inside him, he opted to go for goal himself following a breakaway and ended up shooting wide. That came a week after the world’s most expensive player also received criticism for not passing to Karim Benzema when clean through during Madrid’s 2-1 defeat to Valencia.
Ronaldo was visibly angry after Bale failed to pass to him, but the Portugal superstar insists that is already water under the bridge for him, while he also said the Madrid fans “should be nice” to the former Spurs winger.
Speaking to reporters at the FIFA Ballon d’Or, where he was voted the best player in the world for the second successive year, Ronaldo said:
“Madrid fans are always the same, they are very intense, they show what they feel, they aren’t liars.
“But I think the things with Gaz are normal because they know that Gaz is a very important player for us, a key player.
“What happened on Saturday is in the past — sometimes I make mistakes too so it’s part of the business, part of football. I think the people will be nice with him and they should be nice with him.”
It will be interesting to see if the Bernabeu faithful listen to Ronaldo. The Spanish papers for weeks have been linking Bale with a massive move to Manchester United and the idea that he will be replaced by Marco Reus from Borussia Dortmund and that might be turning the fans against Bale. The big question is that if he continues to get booed, will that force Bale out at the end of the summer?
