Gareth Bale must have feared the worst when Zinedine Zidane was re-appointed as the club’s manager in March.The Welshman’s relationship with the French coach deteriorated rapidly towards the end of the 2017/18 campaign.Bale even revealed in February that he hadn’t spoken to Zidane since his wondergoal for Madrid against Liverpool in last season’s Champions League final, admitting they were not “best mates”.“He didn’t talk to me about it [the goal],” Bale was quoted as saying by FourFourTwo. “I still haven’t spoken to him since. Our relationship was good.“I wouldn’t say we were best mates, it was just a normal professional relationship.”

However, with Zidane now back in the Bernabeu hot-seat, Bale’s career as a Real Madrid footballer now appears to be coming to an end.

Bale has been in and out of the team in recent weeks and, according to the Spanish press, is not in Zidane’s plans for next season.

He was expected to have the opportunity to say goodbye to the Madrid fans in what was is almost certainly his final game for the club against Real Betis on Sunday afternoon.

However, Zidane named Bale among the substitutes.

Early in the second half, Zidane sent three players to warm-up - and none of them were Bale.

And when Zidane sent on Marco Asensio, Isco and Lucas Vazquez, it meant Bale had been denied the chance to say his goodbyes to the Madridistas.

By the way, Madrid lost the game 2-0, with Loren Moron and Jese scoring the visitors’ goals.

Zidane has been slammed by various Spanish football journalists for his failure to give Bale a few minutes at the end of the match.

Bale headed straight down the tunnel at full-time and who can blame him?

The Wales international's spell at Madrid may have just ended on a sour note - but his contribution to the club will always be remembered.