When Bale left for Real Madrid he was one of the top young talents in soccer. But from the outset he was iced, firstly by a jealous Ronaldo who set the tone. You could see he was being ignored by his team mates in an effort to get the ball out left to Ronaldo.

The fans started calling him Mr Glass because of his injuries, the players call him Mr Golf, because of his preference for the links over man cave activities with his team mates. He is thoroughly disliked. His goals hardly draw any enthusiasm from his team mates.

All of this despite the fact that he is one of the few RM players who have made an impact on Barca dominance and played a significant role in Madrid's European success . Bale is still breathtakingly fast and skilled....nobody bends it over a wall with more venom. Some of his Madrid goals in big games have been all time greats.

But while the much less talented Benzema is forgiven his poor games....Bale is crudely called out by Zidane....the man who took France out of a WC because he couldn't control his emotions, who seems to have a real dislike for the Welshman.

Madrid don't want him, but he is now an unappealing transfer....old, expensive and injury prone. So one of soccer's great talents stays where he isn't wanted, and the likelihood of fans seeing his full array of talents diminishes by the year.

Moz

Bale was set to fail from the moment he got his massive price tag.

There is no way on gods blue earth that Bale was worth anywhere close to CRonaldo back then.

had he gone for a respectful price, nobody would be making a fuss.

He;s a really good player. but i think the system has failed him.

And just on Benzema... he's been way more consistent that Bale. But he also has a polarising personality.

Agreed Flash, Bale wasn't as valuable as Ronaldo.....but he is an even better athlete and a better manipulator of the ball. Ronaldo gets Rolls Royce service and has a striker's instinct to be in the right place to score.

If Bale had been embraced by the team he could have been very effective in tandem with Ronaldo......he would have been fabulous with Messi who would have welcomed him.

Unfortunately Ronaldo, a huge soccer talent, harbours a very small man inside....so he made every effort to humiliate Bale. Pathetic to watch.

Moz, i respectfully disagree. Ronny Ronaldo is a wonderful finisher.... BUT look how RM fell apart last season without him and look how Juve upped their game when he arrived.

Im sorry, debating this is like debating whether Kaiser Chiefs are a better team than Barca.

I dont have anything against Bale. But come on. There is literally no comparison.

Why is Ronny so valuable? It's be because he performs week in and week out and for whoever he plays!

RM embraced Bale when he went over. But he just wasnt worth the zillions of dollars that they spent on him. Sorry.

Well that's certainly true, he has been a huge bust for RM. But I really doubt he was ever embraced by the players, from Game One!

Ronaldo is clearly a much more dominating personality, but at Tottenham Bale played the Ronaldo leadership role with great success. He needs to get back into a supportive environment.

And I hope Hazard connects better with the team and the coach, he is another player I really enjoy watching.

Don't know if you saw the Salzburg game Flash...but the tepid response to Hazard's brilliant goal reminded me of the response Bale got. Hazard seemed bemused by the whole thing.

Then 10 minutes later Hazard breaks brilliantly again but is stopped.....leaving Benzema apparently frustrated because he didn't get the pass, even though he was well covered.

Deja Vu!