Gareth Bale suffered the humiliation of being left on Real Madrid's bench for the entirety of their 2-1 win against Bayern Munich last night.

Wales' record goalscorer was forced to watch from the sidelines as his side took control of their UEFA Champions League semi final in Germany.

It's the second away leg in a row that Bale has been an unused substitute, with Zidane not calling for his services in the 3-0 victory at Juventus either.

He's still had a pretty decent season in front of goal despite his injuries and lack of playing time though, notching 11 goals in 22 La Liga appearances.

Bale only has one goal in the Champions League however, with that coming against Borussia Dortmund in September.

And he's fallen right down the pecking order at the Bernabeu, with Zidane using Lucas Vasquez, Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio before him last night as attacking options.

Inevitably, rumours are beginning to circulate that this may be Bale's final season at the Bernabeu, with Manchester United and former club Tottenham both being linked with him.

It does seem rather odd to leave the former most expensive player in football history out so often, particularly because those who have been getting game time aren't delivering as regularly as the Welshman.

But Zidane has now responded to those questions about the player's future and his role in his team.

And if he doesn't stick to his word, it really could spell the end for Bale.

That's because the Real Madrid boss has claimed that the team is still "relying" on the winger, even if he hasn't been playing that much.

Zidane says that there are just players in front of him that are in good form at the moment, and that's something that comes with having a squad as talented as Los Blancos do.

"I have to make choices and I've got some very good players in the squad," Zidane started.

"There are some players who are performing well at the moment.

"There are still more games to come and I'll be relying on him. It's not true that I don't play him."

It's difficult to understand, stats wise at least, why Zidane believes he's got other forwards except Cristiano Ronaldo in better form than Bale.

Benzema has only scored nine times in 40 appearances all season, Vasquez has only eight in 48, and Asensio has only 11.

Clearly, Bale is the most deadly out of all them, and he can feel particularly hard done by to not have not featured regularly in the important games.