Gareth Bale gave a pretty in-depth interview to the Times’ Henry Winter ahead of Real Madrid’s Champions League semifinal clash against Manchester City on Tuesday night. It will be Bale’s first club appearance at a stadium in England since he left Tottenham Hotspur for the Spanish capital back in 2013
Bale on relationship with Ronaldo
You definitely have to have teamwork. No one can ever do anything on their own. But you need a little bit of selfishness because that’s what you need as a front man. We’ve found a good balance. We’re doing well, scoring a lot of goals, and hopefully we can peak now towards the end of the season and get some trophies
He speaks English which helped me when I first came here. We also have that link from the Premier League. We get on really well. The press make a lot of things that maybe we don’t but we get on fine. We’ve never had a problem. I’ve never had an argument with him. He’s a very, very passionate person on the pitch — everyone knows that. He’s very determined. People sometimes seem to take that the wrong way. We haven’t had a problem
On who takes free kicks between him and Ronaldo
It’s on the board: free kicks left side him, free kicks right side me. Every game. So we know exactly what’s what
On his relationship with Rafa Benitez
I spoke to Benítez about the position I’d like to play because the previous year [2014/15] I didn’t feel I was getting the ball as much. I felt isolated out on the wing and I wasn’t able to do what I wanted to do and give my best for the club.
He listened to me, and gave me more responsibility which was what I wanted. I had a good relationship with him. He speaks very good English which helps me. I was able to speak to him a lot. We had things in common from working in England. I just enjoyed working with him
On the players’ relationship with current Real manager Zinedine Zidane
He’s quiet. Even as a player, he always let his football do that talking. That just shows what a man he is. Because he was such a good player we knew he’d make a good manager
He’s just got that aura, that respect because he was such a good player. Everyone respects him so much.We believe everything he says. We trust everything he tells us to do on the pitch. He trusts us to do it and it’s shown in our performances.
You have one or two bad performances — every team does — like the Wolfsburg game but to come back, and win 3-0 at home shows how he motivates us. Everyone listened to every single word he said to us. We just want to do well for him
You can read the full interview here- thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/football/article4738378.ece