Real Madrid: Zidane loses patience with Bale

Jordan Russell (@JordRuss96)
11 apr 2018

Zinedine Zidane, like most Real Madrid fans, clearly did not like what he saw from his team during the first half of tonight’s UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg against Juventus.

Mario Mandžukić scored twice to put the Bianconeri within touching distance of wiping out Los Blancos’ three goal lead from the first leg in Turin, taking advantage of a lacklustre display from Zidane’s players.

Indeed, the Frenchman’s controversial decision to replace Karim Benzema with Gareth Bale in the starting XI backfired, with the Welshman offering very little from a technical or tactical perspective.

Truth be told, he was anonymous and was unable to link up with Cristiano Ronaldo anywhere near as well as Benzema did eight days ago. It therefore came as no surprise to learn that Zizou opted to substitute him at half-time, sending Marco Asensio on to provide some much-needed urgency in the attacking third of the pitch.