Bale defends Hazard against Spanish press

Gareth Bale has spoken out loud and clear. With his future at Real Madrid up in the air, the Welshman took an interview with 'The Times' in which he criticised the Spanish press for being overly harsh with him during his spell in the Spanish capital. He then defended Eden Hazard and admitted that would prefer a more relaxed life away from the focus.

Regarding the criticisms the Belgian received after the cameras caught him laughing with his ex-Chelsea teammates after his side's elimination from the Champions League, he said: "I've seen it. It was literally as if he'd just murdered everybody. It's a game of football at the end of the day."

Regarding his supposed less-than-glamorous behaviour in the Spanish capital, he assured: "It probably came across to them in a way they didn't like. And I know for sure that the media in Spain were not very happy with that. But I'm not going to change for anyone. I'm not going to let the media change my life or what I do. I know I probably got a bit more stick because of that. And I accepted that."

"In Madrid, you're expected to be a 'galactico', which basically means you do what they've seen other players do before. To be honest, I know I'm not like them. I like to be with my family and be discreet, while there are many others that like to go out and, not to asssume, but like to construct their own brand, let's put it like that. There are those that go to these red carpet events. I've never been like that, I like playing football, coming home and being a normal person", he continued

"I speak Spanish well enough to get by and I understand everything that's going on. The reason the press spoke about it was because I didn't speak to them. And I didn't speak to them in Spanish. So they obviously create this big drama, this big soap opera that I can't do this and I can't do that", he added

He then gave a very critical analysis on football in Spain for how focussed they are on players, especially in Real Madrid: "In Spain, football is very magnified, everything you do at Real Madrid is magnified. The media have cameras on you 24/7. In training, watching every move that you do. So that takes some getting used to.”