Zidane Says It Will Be 'Tragedy' If Gareth Bale Never Plays at Major Tournament

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Ryan Giggs spent every other summer sitting on his couch and watching his Manchester United team-mates play in World Cups and European Championships. Zinedine Zidane fears that a similar fate could befall fellow Welshman Gareth Bale.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Zizou said it would be a "tragedy" if Bale was never to make it to a major summer tournament:

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Gareth is desperate to play in a major tournament with Wales – he did not want to be sitting at home in the summer while all his team-mates were in Brazil.

It will be a tragedy if he never gets to play in a World Cup or European Championships. He is one of the top five players in the world – for him not to be there is just wrong.

One player can’t qualify for Euro 2016 – but what Gareth can be is Wales leader. It doesn’t matter who they play in the qualifiers – when Gareth is always on the field – they always have a match winner.

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Wales have only ever qualified for the one World Cup (1958) and one European Championships (1976). However, the Dragons are off to a winning start in their Euro 2016 qualification group after pulling off a Bale-inspired 2-1 win in Andorra on Tuesday evening. 

The Real Madrid star will probably never have a better chance to reach a major tournament than this: The 2016 edition has been expanded to 24 teams, meaning nearly half of UEFA's 53 member nations will qualify. Hence, UEFA's bloated format could help Bale avoid "tragedy."