CR7 and Gareth Bale will face this Wednesday July 6 in the semi-final of the Euro 2016 during a Portugal-Wales that promises a beautiful duel between the two most expensive players in the history of football. Who seem to be enjoying themselves recently!
To offer the services of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, Real Madrid disbursed no less than 197 million euros (96 million for Portuguese and 101 million for Welsh). Yet, in order not to wrinkle CR7 (who tackled the critics of Portugal), and its most expensive player in the world, the Spanish club would have masked some transactions to formalize an amount of 91 million euros when the former player of Tottenham in 2013. At this time, we had to preserve Ronaldo’s ego at Casa Blanca and not too much to highlight Bale’s arrival. But more than behind the scenes, the duel between the two men was expressed on the ground with a not always obvious agreement. Early January 2015, the Spanish media also had a few insults (“The p … that te Pario”, literally “the mother’s … who gave you the world”) from the Portuguese to his teammate, visibly too personal on certain game actions.
But this rivalry between the two men was instead fed by a man, Jonathan Barnett, the Welsh agent, who declared in October 2015 to the Guardian: “They (Ronaldo and Bale, ed.) are completely opposed.” Bale wants to be the best player on the planet, but not the best model or the best lingerie salesman. (…) “Bale will become the best player of Real when his teammates help and serve him.” By specifying all the same for the form: “They’re not going to eat together every night, but it’s okay.” “They don’t hate each other.” We have had better communication … Above all, there was not so much thought after the media release of Rafael Benitez, the former coach of Real, who wanted to “force the two players to make peace.” Really not successful the freelance of Rafa.
Since the arrival of the Madrid bench, the things seem to have settled between CR7 and Bale. While Real Madrid was heading towards a new coronation in the Champions League, French did not hesitate to put the two players on an equal footing: “He (Bale) can do like Cristiano and play a lot of matches.” “He’s regaining his best form and he’s very important to us.” And as by chance, the agreement also saw itself on the ground, where everyone contributed to major victories (Ronaldo’s treble in the quarterfinals against Wolfsburg, the decisive goal of Bale against Manchester City in the semi-final of the C1).
This Wednesday, July 6, the two most expensive men in the history of football are thus found in the last square of the Euro 2016 and will not wear the same colors. But the duel will be appeased, as the Welshman explained in a press conference: “This is not a match between me and him, we represent two countries.” “Cristiano Ronaldo is a fantastic player, I love playing at his side, we get along well.” And no way for him to compare them: “I’m not the best at knowing who’s the best of both of us.” Maybe because this question is finally without answer … For you, what is the best of both players on this Euro?