I'm posting this right after Bale scored a penalty against Levante and when Vazquez went to hug him, Bale threw Vazquez's arms off from him and jogged to the half-way line without any hugs from his teammates.

Clearly a sign of discontent from Bale. More concerning is that although Bale enters the starting lineup for brief spells, for the past 3 seasons our best lineup has never included Bale in it. Zidane instead preferred to have Benzema and Ronaldo as forwards and Isco as the connecting man, or do a Ronaldo-Benzema-Asensio trio.

Even this season, our best lineup is clearly Vinicius-Benzema-Vazquez. It's the lineup that's winning us games and the lineup that's scoring us goals. Bale has been benched for several seasons now, and now Ancelotti's comments hint at a possible rift between Carlito and Perez originating from Bale complaining to the President about his playing time.

MOREOVER, there's Courtois' comments that Bale doesn't socialize with his teammates. Marcelo as well joked that himself and Bale only communicate with sign language.

Here below is basically Ancelotti's gentlemanly way of saying Gareth was too selfish.

Napoli manager Ancelotti said in an interview with Il Napolista (h/t The Independent's Sam Lovett) that he can't stand egotism in a player, suggesting Bale was at times prone to selfish actions:

"Altruism in a squad is important, because if there's something that drives me mad, it's people who are egotistic in a match situation. Those moments when a player really should pass the ball and he doesn't. I paid for this in my own career.

"The reason the row with Florentino Perez exploded in Madrid was my substitution of Bale against Valencia. Bale should've passed it to Karim Benzema, who would've scored in front of an open goal, but instead he took the shot.

"I hauled Bale off and the chaos erupted. Perhaps excessive altruism is also a limitation in a striker, as he needs a bit of egotism, but not if it's over the top."

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2822063-carlo-ancelotti-talks-chaos-with-florentino-perez-over-gareth-bale-before-exit

He did nothing, again. Some free kicks but most pointless player.

Lets be honest, if he scored 30 goals per season regularly no one would give a fuck about his Spanish or if he sleeps at 8pm. He was asked by media if he knows Ajax playing style or some players he responded that he does not watch football at home and he follows only golf on TV. How can you bring some sympathy even outside the dressing room.

He was protected because people thought Ronaldo presence was not helping him to be the leader he should be due to his status and hopes on him. He didn’t asked for PK spot nor took some speeches in half times. He gives the impression to fans that he doesn’t care, and he got kicked out of the starting XI by Vinicius a 18 yo Comming from Flamengo and a Cantera product Vasquez. Fair and square imo.

To play at Madrid, you need to handle pressure, big pressure. We aren’t talking about the pressure you get in a PL side here, in Spain, 3 bad games and you get exposed to fans anger and media critics...

Ronaldo got whistled, Benzema is dealing with pressure for a decade now, and unfairly at times. Benz is 4th all time scorer in CL only Raul is between him and The machines Messi/Ronaldo. Always kept calm and worked.

I have serious informations on Perez wanting to get rid of Bale this summer. There will be always a team in England for him able to pay wages and let him practice golf, but his career in Spain is over. Unless he cuts his wages by 5 and play for Sevilla or Betis, nah he is leaving Spain...

On another note, Benz the guy playing as a 10, is leading the charts ( with his goals in Copa + CL + liga ) he scored more than CR7 in Juve... and without PKs Ramos scored 7 or 8 in competitions...
I never thought it would be him, I thought it would be Bale.

Real Madrid has set some of the biggest records of La liga due to their fast paced counter attacking football. You won several CL's again because following managers after Mourinho continued with counter attacking tactics ( modified to their philosophy). Shouldn't Real Madrid cater to a player like Bale because he is considered attacking spear of the team?

That was all well and true during the Mourinho days, but since Ancelotti arrived we've been a possession-heavy team looking to create through our wing-backs and centrally through Benz. That's why Gareth and Ronaldo both score more goals during the Ancelotti times and onwards, because they were asked to play more centrally instead of wide like pre-2013/14.

And again, Madrid have never catered to any single player, really. Every player is expected to perform at a high level, even if that means adapting your play-style slightly to suit the team. For example, Kroos was asked to play as a DM in 2014-15 so that James and Modric could both play as CMs. Ronaldo was asked to transition to a center forward. Ramos was asked to revert back to his CB role. James and Isco were asked to put in more effort defensively so that they can actually be played as CMs and bring the best out of the team. If you cater to one player, it happens at the detriment to the team.

Look at how Messi-centric Barca had become for a couple seasons, and how abysmal they were in the CL as a result. Those tactics work against mid-table teams, but the top teams can cancel them out. It's not good to focus too much on one player or cater to one at the cost of the team.

Are you sure? I see him quite technical. He relies on his speed a lot which is smart, wouldn't you rely on your strongest ability? Messi relies on his low center of gravity and agility, and Ronaldo used to rely on his speed too. I don't know about tight spaces in the league but Ronaldo did just fine in those spaces. Problem is else where not individually.

You made the point yourself. Messi and Ronaldo are both quite capable of dribbling in tight spaces, but Bale is not. So when La Liga teams decide to sit back and defend deep (which pretty much every team except for Barca will do against us), Bale literally does nothing except pass the ball to our mids and occasionally send in a cross (which is usually a poor cross with his right foot).

Perfect example is the 1-0 loss to Barca yesterday. Bale had something like 14 touches in 60 minutes. Is that what a 100 million Euro player does in the most important league game of the season? And I see non-Madrid fans saying here that Bale has a great goal/assist ratio and doesn't perform because Madrid has never welcomed him.

Well, which is it then? He doesn't perform because Madrid never welcomed him? Or that his goal/assist ratio is off the charts? Because his goals and assists tend to be congregated around games where Madrid hammer a poor team, particularly on the counter. Since the counter is Gareth's strength, he pops in with productive plays in those matches. But when asked to defend, when asked to mark a certain player, when asked to link up with the midfield, when asked to perform against big teams... Gareth has always tended to come up short more often than not.

People's opinion of Gareth is so short-sighted because of the CL finals. That's literally the only game many fans have seen Gareth play in a Madrid shirt, so all they can say in Gareth's defense is that "he has an excellent goal-assist ratio". Gareth was top-class in 2013/14, but since then he's only had one consistent season (2015/16). Every other season has been inconsistent and injury-prone (I don't blame him for the injuries, but even when he was healthy for prolonged periods, he's done nothing but complain about Ronaldo having his role and underperform).

Now that Ronaldo is gone, and it's clear that Gareth still isn't interested in working hard for the team or being a part of it (even though he was the one who wanted Ronaldo's role), I think it's time Madrid move on from him. We'll see what Perez does, but Gareth's Madrid career would have been looked upon as glorious if he just put in more effort on the pitch and played like he cared for the club. His half-hearted displays and antics off the court is what ruined his chance of being a beloved amongst the Madrid supporters.

And it's not like Madridistas have a hard time accepting West Germanic players. Kroos, Beckham, and McManaman are all beloved.

@Tiki

Benz is still incapable of making runs and missing a lot of chances though. He's a great linkup player for an excellent finisher, but we don't have one on our team right now. He'll get his 20 goals in the season, but he'll miss far too many sitters and not make runs in the process. I know he thinks of himself as the lead scorer now, but he's still really a supporting striker at heart. I love Benz, and although he performs better individually as a lone striker, the team functioned best with him supporting Ronaldo.

Very well said dynast, I can add that Bale missed exactly 25% of the games he was supposed to play due to injury. And yes it’s not a coincidence that Bale perform better in CL because these are high intensity games with a lot of space to use from behind. In a season 1 game out of 4 is a lot. And it has nothing with any racism toward a non Spanish or anti English...
Beckham was a true professional, even if he had a big image management and a rock star status, he was the last one leaving the dressing room till the end of his career at PSG. Everyone thought he came for holidays he played until the last minutes...
sometimes when you run out excuses you should take a moment and ask yourself if you’re not part of the problem.

Dynast for Benz, he isn’t Icardi or Kane type of players, but he found himself as the main threat. He was a finisher at Lyon but since he came with Cr and Kaka season 2009, Madrid made him the player he is now. A fast thinking player with great technical skills, but less confident in front of goal. He scored some clinical goals this season, but you can’t make him adapt to the 9 role in less than 6 months...

@Tiki

But a lot of Benz's early career (particularly Lyon) relied on his pace and dribbling. Benz is no longer quick, but is rather the bulky forward who has excellent hold-up play. He's very much like Giroud nowadays. He's not going to be able to shed all that muscle and slim down to get his pace back, he's just too old for that. He should still very much be in our starting lineup, but we need to pair him with a solid finisher so Benz can utilize his passing more.

Also most of the games he missed while being fully fit was largely as a result of poor form. He got displaced by Asensio and Isco. Zidane even changed his lineup to make it a 4-3-1-2 because Gareth wasn't putting in his rounds at the right wing.

Funny that no one talks about Benzema scoring, especially at a team like RM.

Pretty much agree on everything but not with Giroud comparison, in Benz brain, very very fast, Modric level. That’s the quality I appreciate the most while Giroud does link up, heads up. But slower in term of footballing IQ.
Some got the instinct like Mbappe, and some see everything before others, make decisions right and faster than others, not Giroud case. But you can’t have everything players like Lukaku or Suarez slow up the game, make time to see the pass or build up an action but once they are in front of goal it’s different.
I agree with you on the Pairing but to Capitalize on Benz, you don’t need Suarez type of player.
You need a fast thinker, a high football IQ, like Hazard or Griezmann or even Mbappe. Because they can also switch roles combine and Finish. I think that’s what Madrid needs right now. Find the collective creativity they developed with Zidane.
The Atletico-Mourinho style doesn’t fit with the identity of the club. In the long term it isn’t working...

You're right, but Mbappe feels like a dream right now. We need to slowly overhaul the entire squad first since our core is aging. Only then will the team become appealing enough to Mbappe for him to come over. As of right now, our core is much too worn out and old, and have slowly become too arrogant over the UCL victories. Many of our players seem to act like they have nothing left to prove since they are 30+ years old and have already won everything in their careers.