Gareth Bale doesn’t understand why Real Madrid fans turn against their own players.
The 30-year-old has been the subject of whistles from supporters on several occasions since arriving for a world record £85million deal from Tottenham in 2013.
Bale’s recent barrage of abuse came in November when he was heckled by the Bernabeu faithful after being pictured celebrating Wales’ Euro 2020 qualification with a banner which read ‘Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order’.
Despite helping the club win four Champions League trophies, he is still a polarising figure among Real Madrid fans.
Speaking on the Erik Anders Lang podcast, Bale admitted the whistling and booing affects his confidence.
He said: “For me, with us we get a lot of pressure every game. If you don’t play well, there’s scrutiny.
“I’ve had 80,000 people in a stadium whistling me because I haven’t played well.
“It’s not great. I’ve had it a few times as well. The first time, I was a bit like, ‘what is this?’ It’s not nice and it doesn’t do your confidence that good a deal either.”
When asked why Real Madrid fans whistle their own players, Bale added: “This is the biggest question and I just don’t get it.
“If you’re not having a good time on the pitch, you’d expect your fans to get behind you and try to make you do better because it makes them happy.
“But it seems to be the opposite where they just whistle you, which makes you feel worse.
“You lose your confidence and then you play worse which is going to make them even more upset.
“I might have missed an easy chance to score a goal and then the whistles come. My confidence is already down because I’ve just missed an easy goal and now it’s going even more down.
“The next time it comes, the goal just seems smaller.”
Bale has been criticised by the Spanish media for the amount of time he spends playing golf.
Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois even nicknamed him ‘The Golfer’ last year.
But Bale insists golf provides a good distraction from football.
He said: “Golf does help my football, a lot of people think it doesn’t.
“But it keeps me fresher mentally because if you’re playing football, you come home, you’re watching football, listening to other people speak about football, it can get too much.
“It can cause you mental problems for sure. My time on the course, I love doing it, but the added bonus is I can get away from everything, get away from football.
“And especially if things are going badly, I can just have a ball, some green grass, a few bunkers and it’s just nice to have a game of golf with no stress and pressure.”
