Tottenham Hotspur star Gareth Bale, a target for Real Madrid, has spoken of his admiration for Spanish football in an interview with Esquire magazine, reports Soccernet.
Bale, 23, was named as both the PFA and Football Writers’ Association’s Player of the Year in May after a season in which he scored 21 Premier League goals.However, the Wales international’s match-winning feats were not enough to seal a top-four place for Spurs, leading to speculation that he could leave the North London club – with Real president Florentino Perez an admirer.
Bale said the style and high standard of football in La Liga greatly impressed him and that he would like to try his hand in a major foreign league one day.
‘I probably prefer Spanish football to the others,’ he told Esquire’s August issue. ‘It’s very technical the way they play – they keep the ball well and, whenever Spurs have played against Spanish teams in the past, they’ve always made it difficult for us.
‘So I’d say that Spanish football is probably the best I’ve seen. Obviously, I’d like to try other leagues in the future. Every player would like to get as high as they can and try different things. It’s something that the future holds.’
Bale said he revels in the ‘end-to-end’ nature of football in the Champions League compared with facing more defensively-minded teams in the Premier League, and that the appeal of Europe’s premier club competition – both in terms of the quality of opposition and the sense of occasion – is huge.
‘When you play in the Premier League against a lower-end team, they set up to defend all the time,’ he said in further quotes in The Sun. ‘They set up to block you off.
‘But when you play in the Champions League, all the teams are used to winning every week so it’s more of an open attacking game, it’s end-to-end. ‘The music is a massive thing. When we first got into the Champions League, it was one of the things most of the lads were looking forward to, hearing it in the stadium. It’s things like that which make it special.’
-With New Age input
