Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema Reportedly Furious with Gareth Bale

Gareth Bale is finding out just how quickly the mood can change at Real Madrid, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema reportedly furious at him following an incident during Los Blancos’ 2-1 defeat to Valencia.

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Roaring through on goal in patented fashion with the score 1-1, the Welshman looked set to put Real back in front. But instead of laying the ball off to Benzema in acres of space, Bale went himself and was snuffed out by a combination of excellent goalkeeping and diligent defensive work.

It’s an instance that happens in plenty of games to players at many different levels, but according to J.I. Garcia-Ochoa of Marca, it’s not been forgotten nor forgiven by Bale's fellow front men:

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The Real Madrid dressing room have not yet forgiven Gareth Bale for his monumental miss at Mestalla and are still angry with the Welshman.

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Cristiano Ronaldo and Benzema both made their feelings very clear to him out on the pitch. Both the Portuguese and the Frenchman berated the Welshman for going it alone and at several points in the game appeared to talk amongst themselves about Bale's selfish decision. Their gestures, which were caught by 'Cuatro' TV's cameras, left no room for doubt.

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Here’s a look at the incident itself and the subsequent reactions of the Real Madrid players (commentary in Spanish):

Madrid surrendered a one-goal advantage at the Mestalla in their first league game since the festive hiatus, bringing an end to their exceptional 22-game winning run. A loss for Barcelona at Real Sociedad meant the defeat was not catastrophic in terms of the title race, but as is often a case at a massive club like Los Blancos, a solitary loss can flip the atmosphere.

It was something noted here by Dermot Corrigan of ESPN, with a clash against Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey looming large:

Ronaldo and Benzema may have been unhappy with Bale, but it seems he may have been made something of a scapegoat in the aftermath of this game. Madrid—perhaps a little jaded from their excursions to Morocco and Dubai in recent weeks—played poorly overall, with slack defending and offensive profligacy costing them.

Alberto Saiz/Associated Press

Indeed, as noted here by AS, Ronaldo missed an absolute sitter of a chance to make the score 2-0 to the visitors and put the game beyond Los Che. This was an opportunity that was created for him by Bale, no less:

Ultimately, one of the main reasons behind the success of the revered “BBC” front three is that they’re all supreme goalscoring talents. With that in mind, it’s completely natural for players to look and score themselves instead of passing to a teammate; it's their instinct to stick the ball in the back of the net.

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It's something that should be a minor bugbear when you consider the immense talent each of them possesses. After all, could Cristiano or Benzema honestly claim he would have passed the ball in that situation?

Even if Real fail to beat Atletico in the Copa del Rey, it’s vital that negative hyperbole is not indulged and perspective is preserved. After all, this team—of which Bale remains a wholly significant part—still looks primed for an extraordinarily profitable 2015; to let an anomalous incident like this derail its morale would be plain ridiculous.