Real Madrid will be without star forward Gareth Bale for its Friday night Champions League Round fo 16 clash with Manchester City after he was left out of the squad list by manager Zinedine Zidane.
It perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise that Bale wasn’t included in the squad list considering his lack of playing time after La Liga returned following the COVID-19 postponement.
Bale arguably made his own situation worse by exhibiting strange behavior while on the bench in the stands. The Welshman yawned, covered his eyes with his protective mask, and fashioned fake binoculars out of material at hand at various points during Real Madrid’s final stretch of games.
The 31-year-old forward appeared in only 21 games for Los Blancos this season, accumulating just 2 goals and 2 assists. It was a nightmare season for one of Real Madrid’s highest-paid players, and many think that it’s only a matter of time until he leaves to go elsewhere.
On Friday night in Manchester, Zidane is expected to use either Rodrygo or Vinicius along with Eden Hazard on the wings in place of Bale.
Real Madrid will have to make up a 2-1 aggregate deficit if they want to advance to the quarter-finals of the tournament.
