Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale Reportedly Held Clear-the-Air Real Madrid Talks

Real Madrid stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale reportedly sat down to clear the air between the two following the Clasico loss against Barcelona.

The two have often failed to find each other on the pitch in the early stages of the 2015-16 campaign, but they combined beautifully on several occasions in Los Blancos' 4-3 win over Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday.

They even shared a warm embrace after one of the goals, via TheSPORTbible:

According to Marca's Jose Felix Diaz, that's no accident:

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The warm embrace that Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale shared in Lviv had far more to it than initially met the eye. The Portuguese and Welshman have spoken about things over the last few days, and have patched up their past differences as both players look forward and attempt to give Real Madrid a new identity, to which both will be central.

The president made his feelings known to both players in the wake of the home defeat to Barcelona, and indeed to all members of the 'Los Merengues' squad, but it's Bale and Ronaldo who have taken the bull by the horns. There's a realisation that it's not a case of who is the star of the show out on the pitch, but rather that it's all about producing a response for the greater good of the team.

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The on-pitch issues between the two started during the summer, as manager Rafa Benitez made a big tactical change by playing Bale in a central role just behind the striker. As a result, Ronaldo was forced to track back further on the left wing, which gave him less opportunities in front of goal, per Bleacher Report's Karl Matchett.

The new system negated Bale's raw speed as a winger and took away much of the counter-attacking threat that made Real such a treat to watch during the 2014-15 campaign. Initial results were good, but against Barcelona, the space between the forwards and midfielders was evident, and the Blaugrana took full advantage.

Francisco Seco/Associated Press

But the system isn't the only thing that has lead to the icy relationship between the Welshman and his Portuguese team-mate. As reported by the Daily Mirror's Ed Malyon, Bale arrived in Madrid as the heir to Ronaldo's throne and most expensive player in the world, two tags he's yet to live up to.

Real Madrid is still very much Ronaldo's team, and with Bale struggling in the Spanish capital after a promising first season, the press have turned on the former Tottenham Hotspur star. He's frequently compared to Ronaldo, a comparison that would be unfair on just about every player not named Lionel Messi.

Bale's agent Jonathan Barnett took a dig at Ronaldo in an attempt to explain the two are entirely different players, which backfired tremendously, per Malyon:

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What had started as a peace-making exercise, with Barnett pointing out that Bale and Ronaldo were different people, ended up depicted as an attack on the Portuguese - and the Madrid press made no secret of where their allegiances lay:

"To say anything about Cristiano is inadmissible," said Tomas Roncero.

"It demonstrates that Bale has an infantile jealousy towards the Portuguese.

"It's absurd to even compare him to [Ronaldo]. A quarter of Cristiano is better than Bale," he sneered.

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The incident drove the two further apart, and a series of awkward performances on the pitch followed. Ronaldo and Bale seemed to play away from each other at times, failing to link up the way they had in the past.

Against Shakhtar, we saw the Ronaldo and Bale of old. Bale ran his socks off, blazing down the wing and actively looking for Ronaldo on several occasions, and the Ballon d'Or holder tried to return the favour as much as he could.

Andres Kudacki/Associated Press

Per Whoscored.com, he ended up with two assists, and while none of those went to Bale, it was evident his passing clinic was a result of Ronaldo looking for outlets as much as he could.

This kind of dynamic is exactly what Real need to bounce back from the embarrassing loss against Barcelona, and if Bale and Ronaldo can play like this every week, the La Liga giants should return to their best form before long.

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