Gareth Bale had been on the pitch for just four minutes when he stepped up to give Real Madrid the lead from the penalty spot against Levante.Real were being held to a 1-1 draw when the Welshman was introduced with just 16 minutes remaining.And after Casemiro won a very dubious penalty, Bale took the initiative to give Santiago Solari’s side all three points.Bale then opted not to celebrate, shrugging off the attentions of his teammates in the process.While that behaviour was seen by everyone watching, it seems Bale displayed his unhappiness even before he entered the pitch.
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Explained by AS, with images from Gol, Spanish media are reporting that Bale refused to warm-up shortly before coming on.
He was warming up but, when Solari brought on Federico Valverde for Toni Kroos in the 69th-minute, he made his own decision to sit back down “to the amazement" of Dani Ceballos, Marcelo and Keylor Navas on the bench.
AS claim the other three subs “didn’t know what he was doing” and Marcelo even told him to continue warming up.
But Bale refused and remained seated.
Conditioning coach Antonio Pintus spots Bale sitting with his legs crossed drinking water and also tells him to warm-up.
Once again, Bale refuses.
Four minutes and 39 seconds later, Solari then turns to Bale and brings him on for Karim Benzema.
Bale himself even looked surprised.
But on he went and he eventually won the match for Los Blancos.
But considering he refused to warm-up and refused to celebrate, it seems Bale is far from happy at the Bernabeu right now and his future is surely in real doubt.