After his much-criticised performance in Real
Madrid’s Champions League defeat to Juventus last week, we preview
Gareth Bale’s impending duel against Patrice Evra in Wednesday’s second
leg clash at the Bernabeu…
The spotlight will be on Gareth Bale when Real Madrid look to
overturn their 2-1 defeat to Juventus in Wednesday’s Champions League
semi-final second leg at the Bernabeu. The former Tottenham forward has
been on the receiving end of fierce criticism in recent months, and the
heat was cranked up following his ineffective performance in last week’s
first leg clash in Turin, with his agent Jonathan Barnet force to jump to his defence in the wake of the game.Spanish football expert Terry Gibson also believes Bale has become an “easy target” for the Spanish press, who were particularly scathing of the Welshman in the fall-out of last week’s game in Turin. “It’s been building up for a while now,” the former Manchester United striker told Sky Sports. “He is an easy target. I personally think this is a vendetta in the Spanish press that is used as a weapon against Florentino Perez, who is not a popular president with the press and was the person responsible for going all out to get Gareth Bale.
“He needs to go into it being as professional as he can and treat it like any other game,” said Gibson. “Every single game you want to prove people right or wrong, but for him the biggest thing is Real Madrid winning.”
Duel
Bale will still hope to play a key role against Juventus, but if he is to impress he will need to win his duel with Patrice Evra – the former Manchester United left-back he faced on numerous occasions during his time in the Premier League.
Unlike Bale’s blockbuster £85m transfer from Tottenham to Real Madrid in the summer of 2013, Evra’s move to Juventus passed with little fanfare. The French international was seen as a spent force in many quarters when he left Manchester United for just £1.2million in the summer, but he has proved a shrewd acquisition for the newly-crowned Serie A champions.
Evra turns 34 on Friday and is well-suited to the gentler tempo of Italian football. He has made 30 appearances in all competitions and become a key member of a formidable back four which has kept a remarkable 28 clean sheets in 51 games.
Evra has featured in eight out of 11 Champions League fixtures so far, and Giorgio Chiellini is the only Juventus defender to have averaged more than Evra’s 2.4 interceptions and two tackles per game in Serie A matches this season. “You get the impression that you’re like a bottle of wine here,” Evra told Canal Plus last month. “The older you get, the better the taste.”
Bale spent much of the first leg clash in a central role and rarely came up against Evra directly, but he is expected to return to his usual position on the right of Madrid’s front three at the Bernabeu, which sets up an intriguing duel.
Juventus are likely to adopt a defensive approach as they look to protect their slender advantage at the Bernabeu, but Gibson believes that could play into Bale’s hands.
“It will be interesting to see if Evra pushes forward because that’s been one of the accusations of Bale, that he doesn’t defend enough,” said the former Manchester United and Wimbledon striker. “If Evra wants to have an effect on the game and he does push forward, then it might nullify the threat of Bale because he’ll have to chase him.
“But are Juventus going to do that when they are 2-1 up at the Bernabeu? It may play into the hands of Bale if he doesn’t have to track back much. If Evra stays in his left-back position then I would imagine that Bale would like the opportunity to take on a player in his mid-30s and run him up and down that flank.”
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