Rafa Benitez has tried to defend winger Gareth Bale for his performances after he was heavily booed by his own supporters during a recent friendly match. Madrid were taking on Fenerbahce as part of the pre-season preparations.
The season is about to start for the Spanish teams and the los Blancos are very keen on recapturing the league title from the clutches of Barcelona. The Catalan club have dominated Spanish and European football for the last 12 months and it is starting to hurt the pride of Madrid. Last season, Bale was directly targeted by the supporters for the poor performances of the team.
Former managers and players have criticised this direct attention towards the Welshman, who is the world’s most expensive player at £ 85 million. It was expected that the abuse would die down at the start of the season. However, this has not been the case since the hatred towards the 25-year-old does not appear to have slowed. Despite managing a 2-1 win over Galatasaray in the friendly match, Madrid supporters were not happy with the way the team played. Bale also came under direct criticism once again, but new boss Benitez said that the movements of the Welshman have indirectly helped Madrid.
“If you analyse Bale’s movements, you’ll see they give the team respite.If he had scored against Galatasaray, people would be saying what a great game he had.Logically there will be debate over Isco, Gareth and James. We are looking to forge an understanding between them.Isco and James elaborate play between the lines, but not Gareth. He creates spaces and looks to makes runs behind the defence,” said Benitez. Madrid start the new campaign with an away match against Sporting Gijón this weekend. They have so far been inconsistent during pre-season under Benitez.