Gareth Bale on Anoeta: "It has been a good stadium for me"

Saturday quote round-up is here. Today, Gareth Bale talks about his efficient track record at Anoeta; and Morata, through no real surprise, makes it clear he left for more playing time

Gareth Bale

"We must keep calm and keeping going game by game," Bale said Friday at a sponsorship event in Madrid.

"We had a good start to the season with the two Super Cups, but we want to keep winning things. At Madrid we always want to win everything."

Madrid are away to high-flying Real Sociedad on Sunday – the visitors level on points with Barca after three games.

"It has been a good stadium for me," he said. "The most important thing is that we win the game, and get the points to climb the table."

Alvaro Morata

"Zidane wanted me to stay and I was happy in Madrid. But I couldn't stay to be a substitute," Morata told the Daily Mail.

"You reach a point that you need to play, to grow up, to escape a comfort zone. It's about being comfortable. I don't want that. I am ambitious and hungry to succeed.

"For Spain, the more I play, the more goals I score, the more chance I have of making the World Cup and starting games."

"I had various offers, not only Chelsea and Manchester United but also from different leagues," he said. "It was a good situation for me. The most important and best conversation I had was with Conte, he wanted me to come here.

"At the start of the summer, I didn't know that Chelsea were interested in me. I thought they were in for a different player. Maybe Lukaku or maybe someone else, I don't know. I didn't think the option of Chelsea was open.

"But I spoke with Conte several times and not only this summer. I felt in debt to him. He signed me for Juventus but left very quickly to manage Italy. I always wanted to play for him after that. It was only two months with him but it felt like I'd known him forever. When I knew he wanted me this summer, I didn't think twice. I did everything I could to make the move happen.

"Last summer, it was close. Cesar Azpilicueta was a bit annoyed because he had already started house-hunting for me. We'd even got estate agents on board. This time Cesar has sorted everything!

"When I spoke to Conte last summer, I said 'If I'm going to leave Real Madrid, it will only be for Chelsea'."

"If I score every game with my head, no problem. I don't care if it's a bobble off my knee or it goes in off my a***, a goal is a goal!" he said.

"At Real Madrid, I did heading drills with Cristiano Ronaldo. You see him go up for headers, that spring and power, he is a real beast. At Juventus, I saw Fernando Llorente, how he finds space and directs his headers.

"I like the physical challenge. Last week, I played against Wes Morgan and Harry Maguire – big guys. Cesc Fabregas was putting in good corners that I thought I could get to and bury but there were some coming in and I couldn’t even get a jump up against those guys.

"But then I got between them to score. You have to be clever. I'm not worried. At Juve, I trained against Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci every day.

"I think the Italians saw this handsome kid coming from Madrid, where it is a bit softer, and it was a good education. They were great mentors."