#3 Gareth Bale is too fragile to be Cristiano’s successor
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This was perhaps already apparent, but the Clasico gave us the perfect image of it. It is a sad thing when the price tag of a player becomes the only merit on which he is selected in the team.
Gareth Bale was one of the 11 starters for Madrid in the Clasico, which was a baffling decision from Zinedine Zidane considering that he only just returned to training after recovering from an injury.
When you play a half-fit player in a match of this magnitude, you not only risk losing him early and wasting a substitution slot but also start with someone who almost certainly can’t cause any trouble to the opposition.
Given that speed in Bale’s only true strength, starting him half-fit never made any sense and Zidane had to pay for it. The Welshman was injured in the first half and had to be replaced by Marco Asensio, who should have probably started in the first place.
The image of Gareth Bale limping off after exerting himself from the ground revealed a dreaded truth: the Welshman can never be a proper replacement for the Portugal captain. He has already been out due to three injuries this season so far and only time will tell how long he will be out after yesterday’s knock.
With such a terrible relationship with fitness, it is impossible for the former Tottenham Hotspur player to reach the heights that the former Sporting starlet has enjoyed in his career—and it is Cristiano’s supreme fitness that allowed him to do so.
