Although the backlash against Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale appears to have been going on for an age, only now has the Welshman reacted to the media witch hunt and had his say.
A love for golf away from the game of football is how the wide man clearly likes to spend his time, but that’s something that has bothered some.
“A lot of people have problems with me playing golf,” Bale told the Erik Anders Lang Show.
“I don’t know why. I’ve talked about it many times and everyone thinks it’s fine, but especially in the media there is that perception that I should be resting, that it can lead to injuries.’
“I see people in America, for example Stephen Curry, who plays the same morning of the game. Here, if I play two days before the game it’s like: “What are you doing?”‘”
Given that Bale has been one of Real’s most loyal servants over the last few years, even taking consistent bench-warming in his stride, he’s not been able to get away from criticism as to how he spends his free time.
On the two-year anniversary of his incredible overhead kick for Los Blancos which took the 2018 Champions League final away from Liverpool, it was right that the Welshman was given the platform to bite back.
His point of view is unlikely to win him any new friends in the Spanish media, but, frankly, you’d think that there’d be something more interesting to get hot under the collar about than a player relaxing.