Former Spurs star says Bale has no choice but to leave Real

Gareth Bale TEAMtalk

Former Tottenham star Dimitar Berbatov believes Gareth Bale has no choice but to leave Real Madrid after becoming the “whipping boy”.

Bale, 29, has scored three times in one start and four sub appearances since he returned to action after a lay off with a calf problem, including Sunday night’s penalty winner against Levante.

Bale rolled home a cheeky late penalty as Madrid recorded a somewhat controversial win, with both goals coming from the penalty spot via VAR and the second one withstanding a review despite an apparent dive from Casemiro.

But as team-mates converged to celebrate, the stony-faced forward – who had only just come on as a substitute – brushed them away and jogged back to the centre circle.

Real boss Santiago Solari has though insisted ale was “ecstatic” after his late winner: “He was ecstatic when I saw him in the dressing room having got his goal,” Solari said after the match. “That’s all your speculation because he was waiting to come on. I told him to wait.

“I’m thrilled with how he went out there and he looked hungry when he got on the pitch. He clinched the win for us and worked extremely hard. When we went down to 10 he was running for two up top and I thought he had a great game.”

The Wales forward’s form and injury record always seems to be under scrutiny in Madrid and Berbatov, who played alongside Bale at Spurs, believes his former team-mate gets “the blame for everything that goes wrong”.

“Another rumour doing the rounds this week has been a Premier League return for Gareth Bale and that would be great for everyone here,” Berbatov told Betfair.

“Bale seems to get the blame for everything that goes wrong at Real Madrid, which is unfair. If you look at his stats he is still performing, but he is the whipping boy for some reason.

“And, as a player, if you don’t feel appreciated, then you have to move on.”

Both Manchester United and Chelsea have been continually linked with Bale, who moved to Spain in 2013, in recent years.

“Where would he go? It’s a question of money first of course – I’m not sure Spurs can afford over £100m on a player – but Bale is a world-class talent who could play for anyone and it would be great to see him back,” Berbatov added.

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