‘Bale’s goal? It was amazing!’

Xabi Alonso was mightily impressed by Gareth Bale’s late winner as Real Madrid claimed the Copa del Rey with victory over Barcelona.

The game was in its final five minutes when Bale ran from the halfway line, beat Marc Bartra for pace and nutmegged Jose Pinto to deliver the Cup to Los Blancos.

“It was amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it,” AS reports Alonso as saying.

“It seemed like the ball had gone out and he was pushed, but he just ran off the field. Impressive.

“The victory tastes heavenly. It was exciting, with both teams going for it. Very exciting.

“We’re as proud to win without Cristiano [Ronaldo, who sat the game out through injury] as we would have been with him.

“It was a great game to play and be part of and now we can enjoy it with the people who came and with those in Madrid We’re very proud to be Madridistas.”

The subject of the bad feeling in past Clasicos was raised but Alonso dismissed it as nothing more than two teams wanting to win.

“This is football. We both compete for everything and these are tense matches. Each ball is important,” the former Liverpool midfielder said.

“Don’t give too much importance to the friction between the teams. It’s happened throughout the history of football and it’s been greatly exaggerated.

“I don’t put much importance on it. You live with it but you don’t get involved. I don’t care about the noise.”

Alonso was asked about the rest of the season, both individually with the World Cup in mind and in the short-term for Real Madrid, who have a Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich to come.

“Certainly the timing is tight, and after an intense season we may not be in the best condition, but you have to accept all national teams will be affected,” Alonso replied.

“But for now I’m not thinking about the World Cup.

“We have a week [before Bayern] and we have to think about recovering. But now I don’t have my mind on that.”

Tags Gareth Bale. Real Madrid Xabi Alonso
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