March 25, (THEWILL) – Wales international Gareth Bale, has fired back at Marca, after the Spanish tabloid called him a “parasite”, saying they should be “ashamed of themselves.”
The Real Madrid forward has had a tense relationship with the Spanish press for years, but Marca’s latest outburst against the four-time Champions League winner was hard for Bale to ignore.
The 32-year-old was represented as a mosquito sucking blood from the Real badge in an illustration published by the tabloid.
THEWILL recalls that Real manager, Carlo Ancelotti, has mostly kept Bale on the bench in recent weeks after he recovered from knee, calf, and back problems.
Marca took issue with the fact that Bale was called up by Wales for crucial World Cup qualifiers this month. Their story unkindly claimed that Bale “sucks blood without giving anything back,” and that he had “contempt” for his Real.
Bale, who scored twice for Wales against Austria on Thursday night to put Wales only one game away from qualifying for the World Cup for the first time in 64 years, later stated that he had nothing to prove. But, he did criticise Marca’s “disgusting” coverage.
“I don’t need to send a message, it’s a waste of my time, it’s disgusting they should be ashamed of themselves.
“I can hit a free-kick if I am able to play. It was nice to see it go in. The early goal gave us that momentum and the second one was nice as well. I had some cramp at the end which I guess is normal but l will run into the ground for this country and we all did that.”
The other semi-final in their group, between Scotland and Ukraine, has been postponed due to the Russian invasion. Therefore, Bale and Wales will not know their ultimate play-off opponent until the summer.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
