Gareth Bale gives his version of Real Madrid time, media and infamous flag | OneFootball

Few players will enjoy careers as successful as Gareth Bale, few will be as successful as Bale at Real Madrid, and fewer still have been villified to the same degree at the same time. Despite two goals in Champions League finals, the Santiago Bernabeu never warmed to Bale in the same way it has some of their heroes.

Bale became a media villain in the Spanish capital, who were keen to emphasize that he had failed to integrate into the Spanish culture, and towards the end of his career, chastised him for seeing out a lucrative contract rather than seeking more game time elsewhere. Speaking in an interview with GQ, Bale explained that he was not ready for the spotlight off the pitch as well as on it.

“Obviously a lot of players go to Madrid to be a Galactico but I went there to play football, so what I achieved as a Welsh player on the pitch abroad was actually incredible. I was always winning big moments. The other stuff, though… I actually never used to play golf that much.”

“But because people believe what they read, they created a character that I’m not. I was probably guilty of not defending myself and in some ways I was slightly naive, that is probably the correct word, about going to Madrid and not knowing the severity [of being a Galactico].”

‘Spanish media don’t know who I am’ – Bale

Bale went on to explain that he felt his characterisation was removed from the reality of who he was.

“I just don’t think the Spanish media know who I am. Maybe it’s down to me that I never let them know but I didn’t let anyone in, which is what I [wanted]. I was very much: my football and my life are two separate things. I would never change that.”

Image via Getty Images

For the most part, Bale said he managed to distance himself from the media storm in Madrid.

“For the large part, I always kept myself well away from it. I never controlled my social media because you could have 100 posts, 99 are amazing and there’s one bad one you will fixate on. When I was 16 at Southampton, I read a bad article. It was just a match report but I remember that quite vividly – it affected my performance because I lost some confidence. But from a bad experience I learnt to stay away from it as much as I could because I knew what it can do to you mentally and physically.”

‘Never had a problem with Cristiano’ – Bale

Now retired after a loan spell at Tottenham Hotspur and a brief spell at Los Angeles FC, Bale said that was not in regular contact with his former teammates.

“I’m not really in touch with that many – a few of the Wales boys – but I always got on with everybody. I never had any problems with anyone. I never had any big arguments. Sometimes the media might say about me and [Cristiano] Ronaldo, we never had an issue, never had an argument, never had a fight, never had anything.”

Bale’s view on the infamous flag photo

Image via Athena Pictures / Getty Images

Perhaps the flag that more or less ended his Real Madrid career, Bale controversially celebrated Wales’ qualification for the 2022 World Cup in front of a flag that read ‘Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order.’

!That slogan is the one thing I felt hard done by. For one thing, no one knew how much golf I actually played. If I ask you now how much golf you reckon I played, you’d probably say three or four times a week maybe, something along those lines?”

Bale had a reputation for being just as interested in golf as he was in football in Spain, but reveals that he would generally only play every two to three weeks on his days off.

“We’d just qualified for the Euros so I’m obviously celebrating, the whole team’s there, then someone puts the flag [with the slogan] in front of me. What am I supposed to do? I’m like, I can’t throw my own country’s flag on the floor because that is the worst thing I could do. I actually didn’t physically ever touch the flag, which for me was important because I was like, it’s not me doing this – I’m just celebrating with my friends. Then what happened happened.”

FINAL DE LA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE REAL MADRID-LIVERPOOL GOL DE CHILENA DE BALE ****+++

“I got absolutely slaughtered [by the Spanish media]. I felt a bit hard done by because it all comes down to misinformation. I obviously don’t prioritise golf more than I do my country and my club and physically haven’t done one thing wrong. I look back at it now and it’s like, it is what it is. I can’t do anything about it. You have to laugh or you cry. So I laughed.”

Bale’s case has for some served as a cautionary tale about joining Real Madrid, particularly for those joining from the United Kingdom, that it is more beneficial to ‘play the game’ with the media in Madrid, rather than ignore it. The arrival of Jude Bellingham saw him attempt some Spanish, and show a warm attitude, while Trent Alexander-Arnold’s first words as a Real Madrid player were in near-perfect Spanish.