Wales manager Ryan Giggs believes that Gareth Bale can replace Cristiano Ronaldo as Real Madrid’s talisman. Bale has begun the La Liga really well, scoring in the first two matches for Real Madrid.
Giggs said, “When someone like Cristiano leaves there is always going to be a spotlight on who is going to replace him goal-wise and threat-wise. It’s a massive void to fill but Gareth has the experience now of being at the club for a long time. Every year there is pressure on him and he has handled it brilliantly.
It’s a bit different this year because Cristiano has left and there will be more focus on the players who are going to replace the goals. But Gareth has shown his qualities in big games and that he can handle anything that is thrown at him.”
Giggs added, “He has started this season on fire. But there’s never really a time when he is not playing well. I think always the problem with Gareth is that when he has been injured, he’s then had to come back and get more game time. But when he plays, he always plays well and more or less scores. It was probably when I was 28 when I really started realising what was good for me.
Preparing for games, maybe not training as much or not as intensively and some days training more. It’s a fine balance. Some days if you can feel there is an injury around the corner you then pull yourself out of a game which isn’t easy and you don’t always get it right. But it’s something you have to try and do for the longer time that you are playing. Miss one game and play the next.
I was lucky having a manager like Sir Alex Ferguson who was quite happy to do that. It takes time to know your body and get used to what is good for you.”
Real Madrid next take on Leganes on Saturday.
