BALE RULED OUT

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has ruled out star summer signing Gareth Bale from the upcoming la Liga match against Athletic Bilbao. The £ 86 million man has suffered a small problem in his leg, which will prevent him from playing, but he should be fit for the Copa del Rey encounter against Atletico Madrid according to Ancelotti.

Bale has not been the best player in Real Madrid's colours this campaign and it has been largely due to a succession of fitness problems. He was not involved in the pre-season form of Tottenham and Real Madrid as he was busy completing his protracted transfer saga.

This seems to have affected his form throughout the season, but despite this, he has managed to score 11 goals in all competitions. This is substantially behind the record of Cristiano Ronaldo, who has 34 in all competitions. The visit to Athletic Bilbao is a tough one for the Real Madrid team, who appears to have finally settled on a formation to take advantage of their attacking prowess with players like Ronaldo and Karim Benzema. They have made up several points over archrivals Barcelona and they are primed to take over the lead at the top of the table.

Ancelotti, though, says that the Copa del Rey match against Atletico Madrid should see the return of Bale.
"He's not available for tomorrow because he didn't train throughout the week with the squad. He's done a good job today, he'll train tomorrow and I think he'll be available for Wednesday. He doesn't need another pre-season, the problem that he had was very small, he only needs to train and gain confidence. I'm not worried about his problems. He had a knock and was out for 20 days. After that he played well and now he's had a small problem, but not an injury," said Ancelotti.