Bale digs in as face-off with Zidane over Real Madrid future intensifies | Sid Lowe
Relationship between the two men is broken, but with three years left on his contract and no other club likely to match his wages, the Welshman is in no mood to go quietly
Gareth Bale didn’t even get to say goodbye. If, that is, he is even going – and there is no guarantee that the Welshman will leave the Santiago Bernabéu. The message from Real Madrid could hardly have been clearer, right up to the final day of the season when manager Zinedine Zidane left the Welshman on the bench, but that does not necessarily mean that he will depart. Nor will he accept any offer and so far there have been none. Instead, there is an increasingly bitter stalemate with no easy solution.
Related: Real Madrid end season with damning defeat and Bale again stewing on bench