Gareth Bale speaks to the media: “I never planned to finish...”

Gareth Bale spoke to the media during his time with Wales as he was one of the best performing players in this international break. He spoke about his current time at Real Madrid, the rumors about the retirement and also about the national team and racism. Gareth Bale has indicated that he feels more comfortable at Real Madrid than previous years thanks to the positive atmosphere around him at the club. The Wales international also explained that his one-year loan spell at Tottenham Hotspur helped him mentally ahead of the 2020 European Championship

"I think that showed coming back with Wales in the Euros. I have brought that into Real Madrid this season, where there is a better environment for myself. Every player will tell you if they're in a happier place mentally, then physically they are going to feel better and perform better. I'm playing and a bit happier and a bit more comfortable with the playing style of Real Madrid”, Bale said.

Bale went on to hail his relationship with Carlo Ancelotti and expressed his belief that he has had a fine start to the 2021/22 campaign at Los Blancos: “I've always had a great relationship with Carlo. But it is always the same: you have to perform to get into the team. I had a good pre-season and a good start to the season. In football, you just have to play well and the perception changes very quickly”, he added.

In the summer, there were rumours that Bale was contemplating retiring from football, but the Welshman stressed that retirement never passed through his mind: "For me it was better not to say anything and concentrate on the job in hand. I never planned to finish. Like I said before, I just wanted to concentrate on the Euros and didn't want to explain myself. I didn't feel like I needed to. I still don't feel like I need to. No matter what I said I was going to do whether I was going to stay, leave, retire or whatever, I think it would have caused a big and annoying story and a distracting story."

Wales captain Gareth Bale says banning teams from competitions if their supporters continue to racially abuse players may be the "best thing to do". England players were targeted by Hungary fans on Thursday, prompting Fifa to open disciplinary proceedings. Bale called for strong punishment when teams are found guilty, and said he would be willing to walk off the pitch if a team-mate was racially abused.

The Real Madrid forward said: "The action needs to be taken to stop it. The easiest thing is ... whether you ban the fans from the stadium or if they keep repeatedly doing it, which seems to be what is happening, then you ban the country from the competition. I think it kicks it out straight away. If that country keeps making these horrible gestures, then maybe the best thing to do is to get rid of them, give them a suspension and hopefully they will learn their lesson that way."

England players Raheem Sterling and Jude Bellingham were racially abused during Thursday's 4-0 win over Hungary in a World Cup qualifier in Budapest. The visiting players were also pelted with objects in the second half, and a flare was thrown on the pitch by the home fans. England condemned the abuse as "completely unacceptable" and football's world governing body Fifa said on Friday that disciplinary proceedings had been opened "following analysis of the match reports".

"It is frustrating," said Bale. I don't know why they launch these investigations that take so long. It is clear to see. I really don't get why there needs to be such a big investigation. It is clear that it happened."

Bale spoke earlier this year about boycotting social media if more was not done to combat "toxic" abuse after his Wales team-mates Ben Cabango and Rabbi Matondo were racially abused on Instagram. And he said he would support players in walking off the pitch if they were racially abused during a game.

"I'd be fully for it. Football qualifiers are important, but these matters come way above football. If it happened to any of us and we decided to leave the pitch because we feel we weren't getting the protection or being treated the right way - if the only way to get a response was to walk off - then, yes, I'd be fully for it. It's the right thing to do and it's more important than football. We haven't had too many issues but we'd have that discussion if it happened and we'd all agree on it as we're a team that sticks together. If anyone is being targeted, we'll do the right thing”, he concluded.

In this international break his National Team had two goalles draws and one difficult win against the National Team of Belarus. In that match, the Real Madrid star scored three goals giving his team three points in a thrilling match where the winning goal was scored in the last minute. His performances where very good especially against Belarus as his National Team has a great chance to advance to the second round...