Zidane: Don’t know about Bale, Barca…

Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane admits he does not know why Gareth Bale is so injury-prone but insists he would never join Barcelona.

Bale has been ruled out of Madrid’s trip to Getafe on Saturday after suffering yet another calf injury, and Zidane was quizzed about the Welshman’s persistent fitness problems, as well as his “Blanco heart”.

“The players have all come back more or less healthy, and that’s the most important thing,” the Coach said at a Press conference.

“I’m happy to be back playing in the League, they’ve had very demanding matches, but they want to compete again and that's good.

“Bale? He’s fine, he’s getting better every day. He can’t play yet, he picked up two problems, one at Dortmund, which seemed to be a little strain, but then something pulled in his calf.

“I can’t tell you when [he’ll return], but he’s getting better. I can’t say he’ll be back in a week or 10 days, but we’ll see.

“He wants to return as soon as possible and that’s good. How he got injured? After Dortmund, he only had a strain.

“He went with Wales, had an MRI scan and now has something. Now we have to be calm with him. We have to be patient.

“Should I have sold Bale? You have to live for the present, I’m not thinking about any of that.

“Why is Bale so injury-prone? I don’t know, I’m not a doctor or physio. I have confidence in the people who work here, but I can’t do anything.

“Bale’s the first to be bothered by all this because he doesn’t want to be out of the team. I hope he comes back fast and plays like Dortmund.

“Would I join Barca? I have a Blanco [white] heart. I’m here. It was the same when I played here.

“After I left Madrid, a lot of people said I could’ve gone elsewhere, but I didn’t want to. I’m only thinking about what I’m doing now.

“What advice would I give to Zidane 100 games ago? Seize the opportunity. We have to seize what we have every day.

“My 100 games? The most beautiful moment was winning La Liga. It’s about the day to day, it’s massively difficult and winning it is the pinnacle.

“Goalkeeper? I hope Keylor is only a few days away. Luca’s a bit closer, he has a problem with his shoulder, but we can’t give a date on his recovery. Moha and Belman will be with us.

“Rotations? We can do lots of things with 11 players. We now have a seven-game block, where we’re going to play game after game.

“I go day by day and the most important [game] is Getafe. Atletico-Barcelona? I want to win my game. I don’t want anything in particular, I want to cut the deficit and that’s it.

“Carvajal? You all know what Dani has. We can’t fool around with his heart. You must have a bit more patience with what happened to Dani.

“He’s fine and the people who are taking care of his recovery make him [feel] perfect. We want Dani 100 percent.

“It may still be a week or two weeks [before he comes back], but we’ll see. He wants to come back, but what matters is his health.

“Catalonia? I look at it like everyone else, but I’m not going to tell you what I think. We’ re here to talk about football. This isn’t the right place to talk about it.”

Tags Zinedine Zidane
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