Gareth Bale Meets Cristiano Ronaldo at First Real Madrid Training Session

If Gareth Bale had seen his ego boosted by his world-record transfer to Real Madrid, it was probably deflated slightly on his first official day at training with his new club.

He may have cost the Spanish side around £85 million, but the Welshman might just have been a little stunned to realise he still has a bit of work still to do if his touch is to be nearly as good as the club’s assistant coach—a certain Zinedine Zidane.

Zidane used to be the star attraction around these parts—in many ways he still is, becoming increasingly influential both among the backroom staff and in the boardroom at the Santiago Bernabeu—but it is now Cristiano Ronaldo who leads from the front on the pitch.

On Wednesday, Bale also met his new teammate for the first time, the duo sharing a seemingly-friendly handshake that no doubt also contained a certain amount of sizing up.

The pair then made their way to the entrance to Real’s Valdebebas training centre, where Bale was shown around and had the first chance to meet his new head coach, Carlo Ancelotti, before taking part in his inaugural training session.

After a summer of speculation over his protracted transfer, Bale admitted last week in an exclusive interview with BT Sport that it was "stressful" waiting to see what his future would hold:

"

It was very stressful to say the least.

I knew their interest from the start and I was always confident the move would go through but obviously the chairman, Daniel Levy, had to do his business and do Tottenham well so I kind of understood that.

But at the same time, thinking of myself, It was a hard time, it was stressful and I just had to be patient and try to focus.

"

Now both he and his former club can put the difficult period behind them and focus on their respective futures.

“It is the end of the market, and it was a transfer which took so much time to resolve, but it gives us the possibility to focus on what is our work from now on,” Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas told TalkSPORT at a charity event on Wednesday, around the same time Bale was shaking hands with Ronaldo.

Attention now turns to the weekend with Bale in line to make his debut.

Even after an unexpected 30 minutes for Wales on Tuesday, it had been anticipated that Bale would only be introduced off the bench against Villarreal—however, an injury crisis at left-back could see him pressed into service in a role he thought he had left behind him.

Both Fabio Coentrao and Marcelo are nursing knocks sustained on international duty, opening an unlikely path to Bale’s first start.

However, the 24-year-old’s less-than-perfect fitness—coupled with Ancelotti’s option to play Alvaro Arbeloa, Dani Carvajal or a number of other defenders out of position if neither first-choice options are fit—is likely to mean he is among the substitutes, initially at least.

Wales boss Coleman, who gave Bale a runout in defeat to Serbia, thinks that would be most sensible.

'We have looked at him in these 10 days and he is nowhere near ready for 90 minutes even if Spanish football is slower,' Coleman told FIFA's official website.

“If he starts on Saturday, he will not finish the game. I would be amazed if he does.

“He may get 45 minutes, I don't know, but he will feel better in himself after 30 minutes here.”

Bale may be eased in gently at the weekend then, but there appears to be a general feeling that the winger will not be afforded too much time before he is expected to justify his transfer fee.

"There is a lot of pressure on him," Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who endured a difficult spell at Barcelona, told the BBC. "I know that when Zinedine Zidane [a three-time world player of the year] played for Madrid, the fans were whistling against him.

"If they can whistle against Zidane, for me one of the best players in history, I hope Bale has a lot of patience."

Perhaps Zidane's advice will extend to more than just matters of tactics and technique, after all.

(Photos courtesy of Real Madrid's Facebook page)