There was a period not so long ago when Gareth Bale appeared highly likely to join Cristiano Ronaldo out of the Real Madrid exit door. In the wake of the Champions League final in Kiev, both were non-committal about their futures, but it was the Portuguese’s words that garnered more column inches. The Welshman’s message was simple. “I need to be playing more. We’ll sit down with my agent in the summer.” The inference was crystal clear. And then, like a wrecking ball at the Santiago Bernabeu, Zinedine Zidane appeared before the world’s media to announce his resignation as Head Coach. Those closest to the Frenchman may have known, but it was a hugely unexpected bombshell that rocked the foundations of the club. Somewhere, squirrelled away, Bale would have been grinning like a Cheshire cat. Though he never publicly fell out with the coach, a lack of minutes on the pitch clearly put considerable strain on their working relationship. His towering overhead kick in the final against Liverpool merely underscored what Bale was capable of when given the opportunity. With Zidane now out of the picture, Julen Lopetegui has wiped the slate clean and is determined to give all of his squad an equal chance to impress.