La Liga
MANCHESTER UNITED WADES INTO BALE’S NIGHTMARE AT REAL MADRID
With Gareth Bale set for a showdown talks with Zinedine Zidane over his future at Real Madrid, Spanish newspaper, Marca has reported that Manchester United are keen at getting the Welsh player.
Bale hit out at Real Madrid in a recorded interview, for making it ‘very difficult’ for him to leave, and admitted he would consider a return to the Premier League.
According to Marca, Real Madrid are preparing ‘operation exit’ for the frustrated Welshman following his return from international duty.
It adds that Jose Mourinho would ‘love to have’ Bale at Tottenham, but chairman Daniel Levy has ‘no money’.
While it is clear both parties believe it’s better for the 31-year-old to leave the club, Real have not had any offers as yet and there is the complicated issue that they are unwilling to pay off the remaining two years of his salary.
According to Daily Mail, Bale’s €17million (£15.1m) wages over his remaining two years would mean Madrid would have to negotiate a possible €34m (£30.2m) pay-off which they are not in a position to do.
Following Bale’s interview with Sky Sports, the winger and Zidane are set for an awkward face-to-face meeting to try to facilitate the end of his Madrid nightmare.
Bale has has been frozen out of the Madrid set-up Zidane. . The player who joined Madrid in 2013 in a then world-record £86million deal from Tottenham , only played 20 times in all competitions last season, cut a dejected figure during their title celebrations and has become infuriated with the club’s handling of his potential departure.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Bale also expressed frustration at Madrid thwarting his mega-money move to the Chinese Super League. He was on the brink of a move to Jiangsu Suning on a three-year deal reported to be worth in the region of £1m per week.
He said: ‘Last year they blocked everything at the last second, so it was a project that I was excited for last year but it didn’t materialise.
‘There have been other incidents when we’ve tried to go but the club wouldn’t allow it or have done something, so as for the club, what can I say.
‘I want to play and I’m still motivated to play football so I guess it’s on the club really. I can’t really do much, they are in control of everything. I have a contract so all I can do is carry on doing what I’m doing and hopefully something comes up.
‘As I’ve said it’s in the club’s hands and they make it very difficult, to be honest.’
Asked if he is keen to move to the Premier League again, Bale added: ‘As I said it’s not really in my hands, I think it’s one of those situations if offers arrived it would be something I’d look at for sure but we will have to see what happens.
‘We have got plenty of time left in this transfer window and others as well but time will tell. Mainly the reason is the decision is in Real Madrid’s hands.’
Marca state that Bale’s Madrid team-mates are ‘indifferent’ to his situation as they already see him ‘out of the club’ after he was left out at games against Leganes and Manchester City at the end of last season.
Madrid are determined to offload some players including James Rodriguez who is set for a move to Everton, so they can therefore spend on new players.
Manchester United have been linked with Bale on numerous occasions in recent years.
So far this summer, they have made just the one signing – Donny van de Beek from Ajax for £40m.
It was mission accomplished, said Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti after his side fought back from two-goals behind to snatch a rip-roaring 4-4 draw on Tuesday for a 5-4 aggregate win that put them through to the Copa del Rey final.
Ancelotti brushed off questions about a sub-par performance by his side and praised his players’ effort in what he considered a highly entertaining encounter.
“We have achieved our goal today which was to reach the final and there is not much time to think about it,” Ancelotti told a press conference.
“It was an entertaining game with some mistakes and a lot of good things. It was fun and we are in the final.
“I never saw ourselves out of it because anything can happen at the Bernabeu. When we have to come from behind, we never give up. We never give up, especially at home, with the fans by our side.”
Ancelotti said David Alaba was not to blame after he deflected two balls into his own goal, calling it “bad luck” by the Austrian defender, but urged his defence to play with better focus moving forward.
“It’s not good to concede four goals in a game,” Ancelotti said.
“Right now we are a team that has a lot of effectiveness up-front, but little balance.
“However, we can’t ignore what we did in attack, scoring four goals against Real is not that easy. I think we are doing quite well.”
Real Madrid, who have won the Spanish Cup only once in over a decade, will play either Barcelona or Atletico Madrid in a mouth-watering final in Seville next month.
Atletico fought back to hold Barca to a thrilling 4-4 draw ahead of Wednesday’s second-leg in Madrid.
-Reuters
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Real Madrid’s legendary coach Carlo Ancelotti will go on trial next week for allegedly failing to declare income to Spain’s tax office, the Madrid court which will hear the case has said.
Prosecutors are seeking a jail term of four years and nine months for the 65-year-old Italian, accusing him of having cost Spain’s treasury more than one million euros ($1.1 million) in undeclared earnings from image rights in 2014 and 2015.
The trial will begin on Wednesday and it is expected to last two days, a spokesman for the court said.
Ancelotti, who as a coach has won a record five Champions League trophies including three with Real, must be present for the hearings, he added.
Prosecutors accuse him of only declaring in his tax returns the personal remuneration received from Real Madrid during those two years even though he himself declared himself to be a tax resident in Spain and indicated his home was in Madrid.
They accuse Ancelotti of allegedly setting up a “confusing” and “complex” system of shell companies to hide his extra earnings from his image rights as well as from other sources such as real estate.
A Spanish court in 2023 ordered Ancelotti to stand trial over the affair, but did not set a date.
Ancelotti dismissed the affair last year as “an old story that I hope will be resolved soon” when he was asked about the case.
He took over at Real Madrid in 2013, leaving in May 2015, before being appointed at Bayern Munich the following year.
The former Italy international midfielder, who as a player won the European Cup twice with AC Milan, later managed Napoli and Everton before returning to Real Madrid in 2021.
Aside from his success in the Champions League he has won domestic league titles with Madrid and Milan, in England with Chelsea, in Germany with Bayern Munich and in France with Paris Saint-Germain.
-AFP
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Spain’s former soccer chief Luis Rubiales told Reuters on Thursday he would appeal a court ruling which found him guilty of sexual assault for kissing player Jenni Hermoso without her consent.-
-Reuters
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