Fourt-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo was sidelined with an injury which coach Zinedine Zidane described as “nothing serious”. Also back in the squad for Tuesday’s clash is Welshman Bale after completing a one-match ban.
Both were absent from Saturday’s 4-1 victory at Eibar in which Karim Benzema and James Rodriguez were outstanding.
Reigning European champions Real lead Napoli 3-1 going into the second leg in Italy and tipped as favourites for a quarter-final berth.
Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale will miss next week’s El Clasico against Barcelona after being ruled out up to three months with an ankle injury.
Bale sustained the injury during Madrid’s 2-1 win over Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Scans have shown that Bale has damaged the peroneal tendon in his right ankle and will be out for two to three months.
The European champions confirmed the winger will undergo an operation next Tuesday at the King Edward VII Hospital in London.
“The Real Madrid Sanitas Medical Services have decided that Gareth Bale will undergo an operation following the traumatic dislocation of the peroneal tendons of his right ankle,” read a statement released by Real Madrid on Thursday.
“The operation will take place at King Edward VII Hospital in London on Tuesday 29th November by doctor James Calder, under the supervision of the club doctors Jesus Olmo and Mikel Aramberri.”
Bale will now miss a number of key matches for Real including this weekend’s league game against Sporting Gijon as well as a midweek Copa del Rey tie against third-tier Cultural Leonesa.
Most importantly, however, the Wales forward has been ruled out of the crucial trip to Barcelona on December 3.
Zinedine Zidane’s side currently hold a four-point lead over their rivals at the top of La Liga but will be without the Welsh forward for the game at the Nou Camp.
Lionel Messi, Neymar and Saul Niguez are among the 10 nominees for the FIFA Puskas Award 2016.
Messi’s free kick in Argentina’s Copa America 4-0 semifinal victory over United States, Neymar’s flick and volley for Barcelona against Villarreal and Saul’s sublime solo effort for Atletico Madrid in their Champions League semifinal win over Bayern Munich are among the leading contenders.
Spain full-back Mario Gaspar is nominated for his acrobatic volley in last November’s friendly victory over England, while Hal Robson-Kanu’s neat turn and finish in Wales’ surprise Euro 2016 quarterfinal victory over Belgium is also on the list.
Corinthians attacking midfielder Marlone scored with a fine chest control and volley in a Copa Libertadores tie against Cobresal in April.
Daniuska Rodriguez scored a fine solo goal for Venezuela against Colombia in Women’s Under-17 Sudamericano Championship in March, holding off two challenges before firing past the goalkeeper.
Gefle midfielder Simon Skrabb also makes the list with an outlandish finish in a Swedish Allsvenskan match in October 2015, netting an outstanding “scorpion goal” from Kristian Bergstrom’s cross.
Probably the most outrageous free kick of the year came in the Malaysia Super League, when Mohd Faiz Subri channelled his inner Papiss Cisse for Penang against Pahang to hit a bending effort that was going toward one corner and went in the other.
Corinthians attacking midfielder Marlone scored with a fine chest control and volley in a Copa Libertadores tie against Cobresal in April.
Daniuska Rodriguez scored a fine solo goal for Venezuela against Colombia in Women’s Under-17 Sudamericano Championship in March, holding off two challenges before firing past the goalkeeper.
Gefle midfielder Simon Skrabb also makes the list with an outlandish finish in a Swedish Allsvenskan match in October 2015, netting an outstanding “scorpion goal” from Kristian Bergstrom’s cross.
Probably the most outrageous free kick of the year came in the Malaysia Super League, when Mohd Faiz Subri channelled his inner Papiss Cisse for Penang against Pahang to hit a bending effort that was going toward one corner and went in the other.
Real Madrid ace Gareth Bale wants to finish his career as a Madridsta, per The Guardian, after the Welsh attacker, who signed from Tottenham Hotspur three years ago, extended his deal with the Spanish club on Monday, putting pen to paper on a contract set to expire in 2022.
Bale has been linked with a return to the Premier League for the past two seasons, but this new development should do a lot to pour cold water on all of the rumours.
Bale held a press conference at the Bernabeu after signing his new deal, and was asked whether he sees himself ending his career at Madrid, to which he replied: “Yeah, for sure. The reason I signed here for so long is because I’m very happy here.
“I feel more comfortable every year that I’m here as well. I’m improving my Spanish, my family’s more settled.
“I fully intend to see out my contract here. Obviously in the future, I don’t know when I’m going to retire, but I’m very happy here at the moment and for the next six years I’m not looking past that really.”
The 27-year-old has been linked with Manchester United a long time, and many thought that they would go for him during the summer, yet Bale insisted that he didn’t even know who was interested in signing him.
“I couldn’t tell you if anyone’s been interested. Since I’ve been here I’ve been fully concentrated on playing for Real Madrid. I’m very happy here which shows why I’ve signed another six-year deal and we never really speak about these things.
“If [United] have [shown an interest] they have, I don’t know about it. The main thing for me is to concentrate on my football and everything else is dealt with behind the scenes.”
He also pointed out that the transition was not an easy one, especially with him being a British player, but Bale has transcended that to become an absolute star in one of the world’s biggest clubs.
“There have been bad moments, that always happens wherever you are, but the most important thing is how you react. It would be easy to pack up and leave and go elsewhere, but it takes more character to stay here, fight and make things work.
“It’s been difficult journey. It is difficult for British players to come to any European club.
“I’ve had difficult times and good times. It’s all a learning curve.
“I have grown as a person and enjoyed the experience. I am happy here and feel loved by the fans. I am going to try and win all the trophies I can. I always believe that if you keep working hard you will get your rewards.”
The Argentine failed to make the top three for the Best Player in Europe accolade in favour of the Real Madrid duo and the Atletico and France striker
Lionel Messi has been left out of the top three shortlist for the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Antoine Griezmann in the running.
Messi was not even placed fourth in the long list of 10 candidates as Barcelona team-mate Luis Suarez bumped him down to fifth.
Ronaldo is favourite for the award, having led Real Madrid to their 11th Champions League win in 2015-16, before being crowned European champion with Portugal after seeing off France in the final at Euro 2016.
Bale, meanwhile, also won the Champions League with Madrid, while inspiring Wales to the semi-finals at the European Championship.
France striker Griezmann lost the Champions League final with Atletico, and was also on the losing side to Ronaldo at the Euros, although he was crowned top scorer with six goals.
The award, which Messi won last year, is voted for by journalists from UEFA’s member nations. Gianluigi Buffon, Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer and Pepe were the other players on the long list.
Source – goal.com
Gareth Bale capped off a summer to remember by proposing to his long-term girlfriend on a luxury Spanish island.
The 27-year-old forward was one of the stand out players at Euro 2016, leading Wales to an unlikely semi-final place just weeks after helping Real Madrid win the Champions League for the second time in three years.
Three weeks after the disappointment of Wales’ semi-final exit at the hands of eventual winners Portugal, the former Spurs man hired a luxury private island to propose to his long-term partner, Emma Rhys-Jones.
Bale, who met Rhys-Jones while attending high school in Wales, confirmed the couple’s engagement on Twitter.
The picture, which has since been retweeted 15,000 times, is captioned with “She said yes! This a birthday week I won’t forget for a long time.”
The secluded island called Tagomago is just 900m from the north-eastern coast of Ibiza and 79km off the coast of Valencia.
Online holiday site ‘My Private Villa’, who help rent the island, quote fees as much as £100,000-per-day to hire the Mediterranean paradise.
Complete with lavish rooms styled by world-renowned interior designers the five bedroom villa is available to rent on a weekly basis for the price of no less than €500,000.
The 98-acre luxury getaway comes complete with a helipad for easy access via helicopter.
The 27-year-old was joined by a handful of friends and family as the former Tottenham forward took the opportunity to celebrate his 27th birthday.
The newly engaged couple have two children together: three-year old Alba Violet and Nava Valentina who was born in March this year
Details of the Welshman’s transfer from Tottenham have been revealed, detailing that he cost more than Cristiano Ronaldo
Gareth Bale‘s agent Jonathan Barnett has described the leaked details of the Welshman’s transfer to Real Madrid as “disgraceful” and demanded an investigation.
Website Football Leaks published documents detailing the star’s transfer in 2013 which state the world-record figure paid by Madrid to Tottenham.
It is claimed the Santiago Bernabeu club parted with €100,759,418 for Bale – more than the €94m fee paid for Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009 – despite their previous insistence that Bale’s deal cost closer to €91.59m.
Reports in Spain also suggest Tottenham were forbidden from disclosing details of the transfer fee, which is understood to have been paid in four installments.
Barnett is furious at the leak and has called for apologies from the Football Association, telling Telegraph Sport: “There should be an inquiry and an independent investigation because it’s outrageous.
“There also needs to be an apology from the Football Association to the clubs and the player.
“I think it’s disgraceful that people can get hold of this sort of stuff. It shows complete disregard for both clubs and the player.”
A British journalist claimed this month that Madrid had instructed him not to mention Bale’s world-record fee during an interview with the 26-year-old.
“Real Madrid are a club so worried about image that when I interviewed Bale it was requested to me, ‘don’t put in the article how much Gareth Bale cost’,” Jonathan Norcroft of The Sunday Times told the BBC.
“The reason for that is because it was a world-record transfer fee, but Cristiano Ronaldo doesn’t like to see that someone else cost more than him.”
Former Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp says Gareth Bale still reminds him of Cristiano Ronaldo, despite his current struggles at Real Madrid, but says he must “sort himself out”.
The 25-year-old has been booed by his own fans and criticised by the Spanish press on multiple occasions this season after an inconsistent run of form since the turn of the year.
Redknapp signed Bale from Southampton for Tottenham in 2007 and turned him from a left-back to a winger, and insisted last week that the Welshman remains one of the top five players in the world.
However, Redknapp believes Bale needs the freedom to roam if he is to return to his best.
He told AS: “For me, he’s like Cristiano. You’ve got to give him the ball; once he gets it, he’ll gain a yard, then two and put himself in a position where he can shoot with the kind of power that no one has – or dribble through defences which is something that only a few players do in today’s game. I’d give him all the freedom in the world.
“Both of them are players who like to roam freely, Bale slightly behind… They are players who feel more comfortable without any tactical restrictions. It would be amazing to see them both at full speed, 30 or 40 yards out and sprinting towards goal, running at defences.”
Redknapp has also refuted suggestions that Bale has encountered difficulties because of his inability to perform in the same team as Ronaldo, with the 68-year-old pointing to his performances last season as evidence.
He added: “When he left to join Madrid, I did worry that he might be left in Cristiano’s shadow. But he did well last season; playing in the role he was given. He scored some extraordinary goals.
“This year, I see he’s getting criticised. He has never received this amount of attention and maybe that’s affected him a little. But he’s got to get over it, be strong and believe that he can turn his situation around.”
Bale’s problems have drawn comparisons with his start to life at Tottenham, where he went 24 games before winning a game in the side, and Redknapp has warned the Wales international he must show great character if he is to bounce back.
“He needs to work hard, learn the language. He’s got to dive in head first,” he added. “It’s no good for him to be going over whether it would be better if he came back home. He’s at one of the greatest clubs in the world, if not the greatest. This is a man’s world and he’s got to sort himself out.
“Whenever he was a bit low and disheartened, I’d put my arms around his shoulders. ‘Give the ball to Gareth,’ I’d tell his team mates, in front of Gareth. ‘Today, every player out there was afraid of you,’ I’d tell him, ‘what a great player you are lad.’ I’d repeat that and Gareth would always respond well.”
