Ronnie urges press and fans to get off Bale’s back.
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Cristiano Ronaldo has jumped to the defence of his Real Madrid colleague Gareth Bale by telling the fans to lower their early expectations of him in a bid to ease the pressure, the Daily Mail reports.
The Welsh international made his return from a thigh injury during last weekend’s 2-0 victory over Malaga at the Bernabeu. He came off the bench with just 14 minutes to go and won his side a stoppage time penalty, which was put away by Ronaldo.
Bale has made just one start since his summer switch from Spurs to Madrid, a deal which cost Los Blancos £85.5m.
And following his short appearances against Malaga, he is expected to feature more in the midweek Champions League clash against Juventus before playing from the start in the weekend’s El Classico encounter with Barcelona.
And Ronaldo spoke out over the outrageous expectations placed on the 24-year-old ahead of a busy week by saying that he could probably do more without the enormous pressure.
“I think he is doing well. Since he arrived he’s had it a bit tough, he didn’t have a pre-season and he was injured so it’s not been easy for him, but you can see how excited he is to be here,” the Portuguese superstar explained.
“We shouldn’t put too much pressure on him, that’s not good for him.
“He always wants to learn and we have to try and help him, not put pressure on him, and leave him alone, because I’m certain he’ll be very good for the team.”