Inside La Liga: White noise at Los Blancos

La Liga returned from the international break to the sound of Real Madrid’s duelling galacticos Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale.

The week’s soap opera began when Bale’s agent Jonathan Barnett gave a very self-important interview to The Guardian, where he spoke about unspecified “resentment” around the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu as Bale was replacing Ronaldo as the world’s best player.

Barnett also claimed that the two superstars were “complete opposites” as his client was not interested in being “the best model in the world or the best underwear seller.” Such candid comments were unsurprisingly pounced upon by the Madrid-supporting media. ‘Mad Madridista’ Tomas Roncero’s riposte in AS was headlined — ‘Barnett, why don’t you just shut up?’ Roncero’s column also hinted that Bale’s ego had been inflated by Blancos president Florentino Perez suggesting that the 26-year-old would win the Ballon D’Or “once Ronaldo was gone”.