Real Madrid won the Champions League trophy, yet that wasn’t the main storyline after the final. Both stars stirred controversy with thinly veiled comments regarding their future.
The 33-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo told BeIN Sports Spain:
“It was very nice to be at Real Madrid. In the next few days, I will speak. I am going to enjoy this moment and in the next few days I will give an answer to the fans, who have always been at my side,”
The next day he partially reverted on those comments:
“I spoke when I shouldn’t have done but something is going to happen. It wasn’t the right time, but I was honest,”
Yet, he did say he was being honest, which means he is considering his future. Personally, I don’t think we should be surprised. It’s the third straight Champions League title for Real Madrid and Ronaldo’s fifth one with the club. Winning the Champions League is most footballers’ dream. Since Ronaldo has five with the same club, it’s only logical to expect that he’ll want a new challenge. He has expressed a wish to return to Manchester United on several occasions and it seems like a viable option. Ronaldo failed to win the Champions League there, so he could see it as unfinished business. The time spent with Mourinho in Real showed that they’re not the ideal pairing, but they’re both Portuguese, which should help.
Florentino Perez will be reluctant to let him go, but as we all know, in today’s football, players always get what they want. Now that Zidane is gone, there isn’t much holding Ronaldo back. Just yesterday, many news outlets reported that he had told his teammates he would leave long before the final. Whether that’s true or not and whether something changes in the meantime remains to be seen.
Gareth Bale scored what can only be described as a master-piece in the Champions League final. By all intents and purposes, it was the goal that determined the winner and one of the most magnificent individual efforts in Champions League history.
This is the best goal EVER in a final.
Period.
Insane from Gareth Bale.#UCLfinal pic.twitter.com/RyAIR94p2W
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) May 26, 2018
The joy and relief after the match was undeniable, but his statement had a clear message as well:
“I need to be playing week-in, week-out and that hasn’t happened this season for one reason or another … I have to sit down in the summer and discuss my future with my agent and take it from there.”
He’s completely right. When given the opportunity, Gareth Bale can match Ronaldo’s level on any given day. Him sitting on a bench is blasphemy. Unless Florentino Perez comes up with some sort of bullet-proof plan to make him stay, Bale should be wearing a different-coloured jersey by the end of the summer. I doubt Real will allow for both of its superstars to leave, but my opinion is that at least one of them will. No matter who it is, he will carry a hefty price tag.