His club career might be stuck in limbo but at least Gareth Bale can find some respite from his Spanish woes away on international duty.
Unwanted and unloved at Real Madrid, Bale always finds solace with Wales and has been called into the squad to face Finland and Bulgaria in September's Uefa Nations League games.
This is despite fact the 31-year-old barely featured for Zinedine Zidane's side last season, starting just 14 games in all competitions.
Bale featured twice for Madrid after the restart of Spanish football in June following the coronavirus lockdown but played just 48 minutes of Real Madrid's 12 games.
His relationship with Zidane is non existent and the French manager even left Bale out of the squad completely as the Spanish champions were knocked out of the Champions League by Manchester City.
Wales manager Ryan Giggs admitted last week that his star attacker – who has 33 goals from 83 appearances for his country – might struggle to play two games on the trot.
"I'm just monitoring the situation. When Gareth gets on camp, I will speak to him," Giggs said.
"He always turns up to camp fit and raring to go. OK, he might not sometimes be match fit and able to bang out two 90 minutes in a short space of time, which again isn't ideal, but it something he has managed quite well over the last 18 months.
"He wants to play every game. Since I took over, he's been playing at Madrid and I've picked him, also he's not been playing regularly and I've picked him."
Bale has been linked with a move back to England and his former club Tottenham Hotspur of late but it looks increasingly likely he could just run down the final year of his Real contract. His salary with Los Blancos is €15 million (Dh65.5m) a year.
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Bale's greatest Real Madrid goals
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September 2013: Villarreal v Real Madrid – debut goal. After the start to his Real Madrid career was disrupted by injury, Gareth Bale scored his first goal for his new club against Villarreal in a La Liga game at El Madrigal Stadium. Getty -
November 2013: Real Madrid v Real Valldolid – the perfect hat-trick. Bale started to realise the demands of Real Madrid fans after being criticised for his display in the Clasico defeat to Barcelona in October. He responded by going on a red-hot run of goalscoring form, which included his first Madrid treble in a 4-0 win over Valladolid. It was a perfect hat-trick, too: left foot, right foot, header. Getty -
April 2014: Real Madrid v Barcelona - Copa del Rey final winner. The crowning moment of Bale’s debut season at Real Madrid. With the score level at 1-1, Bale scored one of the greatest goals in Spanish football history, burning Barcelona defender Marc Bartra for pace, sprinting half the pitch, before sliding the ball home for an 85th minute winner. Getty -
May 2014: Real Madrid v Atletico Madrid - Champions League final goal. Bale stepped up once again on the biggest of stages. After the Champions League final seemed to be heading to penalties, Bale scored to give Real Madrid a 2-1 lead in extra time. Real went on to win 4-1 and claim their 10th European Cup. Getty -
December 2014: Real Madrid v San Lorenzo - Club World Cup final goal. In a season blighted by more injury problems, Bale scored in his third major final for Real Madrid, netting the second in a 2-0 win over San Lorenzo to win the Fifa Club World Cup. Getty -
December 2015: Real Madrid v Rayo Vallecano - four-goal haul. Bale produced the most prolific performance of his Real Madrid career when he scored four goals in a 10-2 thrashing of Rayo Vallecano in La Liga. Three weeks later, he scored another hat-trick in a 5-0 win over Deportivo. Getty -
May 2018: Real Madrid v Liverpool - Champions League final match-winner. Bale was finding himself increasingly marginalised by Zidane and was among the substitutes for the Champions League final against Liverpool. Called off the bench with the score at 1-1, Bale scored one of the greatest goals in Champions League history with a spectacular overhead kick. He scored again to steer Madrid to a 3-1 win and their third successive European Cup. Getty -
December 2018: Fifa Club World Cup - player of the tournament. After the exit of Zidane, Bale resumed a more important role under eventual successor Santiago Solari and was central to Madrid’s Club World Cup triumph in Abu Dhabi. He scored a hat-trick in the semi-final against Kashima Antlers before Madrid beat Al Ain in the final. He was named player of the tournament. Getty -
February 2019: Atletico Madrid v Real Madrid - 100th goal. On February 9, 2019 Bale became just the 15th player in Real Madrid’s history to score 100 goals for the club when he struck in a 3-1 win away to city rivals Atletico. Bale has since moved on to 102 goals, placing him 14th on Madrid’s all-time list. Getty
