GARETH BALE wants to make more history at Real Madrid after pledging his future to the Spanish giants.
Bale won his third Champions League winner’s medal in four seasons as Real swept aside Juventus 4-1 in his home city of Cardiff on Saturday night.
But Bale was reduced to the role of bit-part player after recent injury problems, sent on only for the final 13 minutes at the National Stadium of Wales with the game already won.
Bale’s injury woes this season – and the impressive displays of Spanish playmaker Isco in his absence – have led to suggestions that the Wales forward could return to the Premier League this summer. But the 27-year-old says he is determined to remain in Madrid and add to his impressive trophy collection at the Bernabeu.
“I have signed a long-term contract at Madrid,” said Bale, who last October committed himself to Real until 2022.
“My family is happy and I am happy, so yes we will continue what we are doing. We are winning trophies and I am happy.”
Real’s victory saw them become European champions for a record 12th time as Zinedine Zidane’s side became the first club to retain the trophy in the Champions League era. And Bale believes the current team has taken its place among the great Real sides of the past.
“We have won three Champions Leagues in four seasons so we have to be in that category,” he said.
“All we can keep doing is keep working hard and hopefully there will be more to come.
“I think we can get better. We are still quite young as a whole team and we have a great squad.
“Winning again adds to the history of this club. This club is the biggest in Champions League history ever, it’s great to be a part of and we want to win more.”
Bale now plans to return to full fitness over the summer after a mixed
12 months in the Spanish capital.
He helped Wales to the semi-finals of Euro 2016 in France last summer, but missed three months of this season after undergoing ankle surgery in November.
Bale was injured again in the El Clasico against Barcelona on April 23, effectively ending his hopes of starting in Cardiff, and he later admitted he may have rushed his return following his ankle operation. My ankle will be fine in the long term,” Bale said. “It just needs to be given recovery time.
“There is scar tissue and all that and it takes time to get rid of it.
“I only found out I wasn’t going to start just before the game. But I always knew really because I’d only been training for five days with the team and I was really lucky to be involved, to be honest.
“I’ve worked double sessions for three, four weeks to get myself ready for this and recover from the surgery.
“But I will be able to rest in the summer, do some more rehab and then come back next season stronger.”
Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo (right) says he feels as young as ever after he scored twice in the 4-1 victory.
It was Ronaldo’s fourth Champions League title – three for Real and one at Manchester United – and his double took him to 600 career goals for club and country.
“My age is just a number, I feel like a young boy,” 32-year-old Ronaldo said after being handed the man-of-the-match award by his former United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
“I am very happy – an amazing season again. We’ve won trophies and of course it is one of the best moments of my career – I have the opportunity to say this every year but it’s true!
“This season was amazing again, last season was amazing. I have two or three days to rest now then I have a qualifying game for Portugal.
“Then we have Confederations Cup [in Russia]. It is a long season but I am motivated. I am happy, these are good moments.”
Ronaldo’s double gave him 42 Real goals this season, spearheading the Spanish giants’ first LaLiga and European Cup double since 1957-58.
His display also made the Madrid fans who have previously whistled him look all the more absurd.
“It’s not the moment to speak about that,” he said when asked about such criticism. “I speak already a few times about that.
“The most important [thing] is that I again had an amazing season; me and my team-mates have done the double.
“I think people don’t have words to criticise because the numbers don’t lie, you know?”
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