Gareth Bale
Zinedine Zidane has confirmed that Gareth Bale will be staying with Real Madridthis season after he started the first league game of the campaign.
Bale was a surprise inclusion as Real beat Celta Vigo on Saturday afternoon after Eden Hazard was ruled out through injury and set up the opening goal for Karim Benzema.
He continued to impress as Real went on to win the game 3-1 after further goals from Toni Kroos and Lucas Vazquez.
It was a shock after a summer in which Bale seemed to be heading out of the Santiago Bernabeu, with the Welsh winger nearly moving to the Chinese Super League.
Zidane even made it clear that he expected Bale to leave during a pre-season in which he regularly left him out.
Yet after the game, the Real boss insisted he would have a part to play over the new campaign.
“He is going to stay. We have to focus on this season, nothing else,’ the manager explained.
“Hazard’s injury is bad luck for us, but it has not changed the idea we had for Bale in this game.
“Gareth, James [Rodriguez] and all the players here are going to defend this shirt.”
Real are currently three points ahead of fierce rivals Barcelona after the Nou Camp club lost their opener to Athletic Bilbao.