2025-12-13 10:32:59

Gareth Bale claims that “he never used to play golf that much” at Real Madrid.

The former Welsh footballer faced criticism for spending too much time on the golf course during his time with the Spanish giants but feels that unfair perceptions of him were conceived.

Bale – who won five Champions League titles at Real – told GQ magazine: “Obviously a lot of players go to Madrid to be a Galactico but I went there to play football, so what I achieved as a Welsh player on the pitch abroad was actually incredible.

“I was always winning big moments. The other stuff, though… I never actually used to play golf that much.

“But because people believe what they read, they created a character that I’m not. I was probably guilty of not defending myself and in some ways I was slightly naive, that is probably the correct word, about going to Madrid and not knowing the severity.”

Bale infamously celebrated in front a flag reading “Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order” after the team secured qualification for Euro 2020 and felt that the incident was blown out of proportion by the media in Spain.

He said: “That slogan is the one thing I felt hard done by.

“For one thing, no one knew how much golf I actually played. If I ask you now how much golf you reckon I played, you’d probably say three or four times a week maybe, something along those lines?

“I played once every two to three weeks, but only on a day off. I’d never play a game for eight hours, I was always very professional about it. But people don’t know that so they make up that slogan.”

The former Tottenham player continued: “We’d just qualified for the Euros so I’m obviously celebrating, the whole team’s there, then someone puts the flag in front of me. What am I supposed to do?

“I’m like, ‘I can’t throw my own country’s flag on the floor because that is the worst thing I could do.’ I actually didn’t physically ever touch the flag, which for me was important because I was like, ‘It’s not me doing this – I’m just celebrating with my friends.’ Then what happened happened.

“I got absolutely slaughtered (by the Spanish press). I felt a bit hard done by because it all comes down to misinformation. I obviously don’t prioritise golf more than I do my country and my club and physically haven’t done one thing wrong.”

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