By Chris Wright
It was the usual Tuesday/Wednesday night rigmarole for Gareth Bale, with the Real Madrid forward spending his evening being jeered, whistled, booed and abused by his own fans after a less-than-stellar outing in the Champions League.
Madrid were dumped out by Juventus on aggregate at the Bernabeu, with Bale failing to convert a string of chances over the course of the game – though, admittedly, none were really of the “straightforward” variety.
Having been jeered all night inside the stadium, Bale then received his customary farewell from the Bernabeu – leaving the carpark to a hail of abuse from livid Madrid fans, yelling such derogatory Spanish colloquialisms as “cabron” (which translates as “silly sausage”) and “hijo de puta” (“your hairband makes you look like a bit of a wally”).
Bale himself remained magnanimous after the game, telling reporters:
“There have been some ups and downs but I think I’ve played well.
“What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger and I’ll learn from this season and take it on.”
All this while Andrea Pirlo was receiving a standing ovation from 80,000 Madrid fans for an utterly unremarkable 6/10 performance for the opposition.
They certainly are weird ones, these Real supporters.