REAL Madrid face a must-win Clasico tomorrow and Gareth Bale is hoping to use the game as an opportunity to cement his long-term future at the club.

La Liga’s reigning champions are fourth in the table heading into the game, 11 points behind table-topping Barcelona – albeit with a game in hand – having dropped points in six of their 15 league games.

Bale had been absent for the majority of the campaign with a series of injuries, and those continual physical problems have led to speculation the club are willing to sell him.
Now he is back, and eager to earn another chance to show he deserves a place in Zinedine Zidane’s starting line-up. But it’s by no means certain he’ll be given that chance.
Though Real made history by claiming five trophies for the first time (La Liga, the Champions League, the UEFA and Spanish Super Cups and the FIFA Club World Cup), injury problems forced Bale into a peripheral role, and Spain international Isco has flourished as his replacement.

Thigh and calf injuries have restricted Bale to just five league appearances so far this season, while his total number of injuries since moving to Madrid has risen to 24.
During the autumn there was a growing sense that enough is enough, with all-powerful club president Florentino Perez – previously Bale’s biggest backer – reported to have run out of patience with the repeated unavailability of a player who was described in the media as being “made of glass”.

Amid rumours the Bernabeu hierarchy were preparing to sell Bale, there was an ominous note from Perez when he softened his support for the winger by appearing to compare him to former Real star Kaka, who Perez said was “never the same” after a serious knee injury.
Sensing that the Wales international was being pushed out, most sections of the Spanish media adopted an aggressive tone. In October., for example, an article by Hector Martinez in sports daily AS stated Bale’s absence was “working in Zidane’s favour” and noted Real had won 10% more games without the former Tottenham man than with him.

There was particular irritation with the idea Bale is more committed to his country than his club, with another article in AS claiming “Madrid pays for him, Wales enjoys him”.
One of Bale’s biggest critics, Santi Segurola, wrote in broadsheet newspaper La Vanguardia: “His value is dissipating on the pitch and on the transfer market.”
For the first time, it seemed the odds of Bale staying in Spain were stacking up against him.