Zidane: “I want Bale to stay until the end of the season”

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane talked to the press ahead of Wednesday’s home game against Galatasaray, the fourth in the 2019-2020 Champions League Group Stage. Zidane was mainly asked about Gareth Bale’s situation in the club after the Welsh national team decided to include him in the squad list before making his return from injury for his club.

However, Zidane refused to add fuel to the fire and said that he wants the Welshman to stay until the end of the season.

“The problem is that he is not ready. We will take it day to day, they have the right to call him up, it’s not our business and the player just wants to be well. He’s the first one suffering and we’ll see what happens and whether he’s ready or not, because right now he isn’t,” said Zidane.

Bale’s last time on a football pitch was during Wales’ match against Croatia, where he picked up a calf injury. He has spent the last month recovering from that issue and hasn’t trained with the squad yet.

“It doesn’t bother me, I will tell our fans that he’s the first one suffering. Then you can say that he will play for Wales but if he isn’t ready he won’t. He got injured and he hasn’t recovered yet, but he wants to recover and play. Our fans have to be positive. I don’t want Bale to leave in January, I want him to stay until the end of the season and he will try to come back soon,” added the coach.

Real Madrid earned the three points on their visit to Galatasaray just a few weeks ago and now will have to take care of business at the Santiago Bernabeu.

“We know what we have to do and I know we can play a good game, I would quit otherwise. We all know we can win and advance to the next round,” said Zidane when asked about the game.

Zidane also had some words to say about VAR after the controversy following Real’s draw against Betis this past weekend.

“VAR is there to improve the game but it’s clear that then we see things called differently depending on where the plays happen and the interpretation of the rules change. I hope everyone does it with goodwill and without bias because everyone can make mistakes. Sometimes I’m not happy, but what can I say? I hope that there are less and less mistakes. It was made to make clear decisions but it isn’t just yet,” concluded the coach.