Bale: Problems with Ronaldo 'were never there'

Gareth Bale has moved to deny rumours he had a bad relationship with former Real Madrid team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo. The duo, once the most expensive two players in football, played alongside one another at the Santiago Bernabeu between 2013 and 2018 but were said to have a poor rapport prior to the Portuguese's transfer to Juventus.

However, the Wales star now says he relished playing with his former team-mate despite the rumours to the contrary.

"Cristiano is an incredible player, I thoroughly enjoyed playing with him," he said on a segment of BT Sport's What I Wore series.

"Obviously the media try and hype all these problems which were never there. We got on really well. An incredible player, what he did for the club and the amount of goals he scored, and he’s still going now."

Reflecting on his career, Bale picked out his two goals in last season's Champions League final, one of them a spectacular bicycle kick, as highlights, and revealed that being left on the bench for the Kiev showpiece inspired his match-winning cameo.

"Going into the final, I'd been playing really well and scoring a lot of goals and I felt kind of angry that I wasn't starting because I felt like I deserved it," he added.

"Coming on in the final I had a bit of anger and that spurred me on to score such a good goal, and even take on the second shot from such a distance."

Bale was the subject of a €100million deal to take him to Madrid from Tottenham in 2013 and opened up on how he felt at the time.

"My unveiling at the stadium – there was about 40, 50,000 people there and I was just like, 'Oh god'," he said.

"I appreciated everything Tottenham had done for me but I think they did understand at the time that when such a big club like Real Madrid comes calling, it is difficult to turn them down. You have to take it in your stride. You just have to try your best, give it a go and enjoy the experience."