Thursday's Copa del Rey loss reopened all the wounds within the locker room, including the complicated relationship between Zinedine Zidane, Gareth Bale, and the player's agent, Jonathan Barnett.
The outspoken agent has once again stepped up to defend his client, but this time, Zinedine Zidane seems to be spot-on in his assessment.
It all started with one more nasty gesture from Bale, who left the stadium on Thursday with ten minutes still left on the clock, something that's seen as a sign of disrespect towards his team-mates, club and coach. Agent Jonathan Barnett spoke to Marca on that subject, defending his client's actions.
"He wanted to avoid traffic. He was not on the squad and he wanted to get home. What's wrong with that? You can't kill him for leaving the stadium," Barnett said.
Then, the attorney referred to how Zinedine Zidane could help Bale's fitness levels if he changed his entire training method to ease things for the Welshman.
""He (Bale) has been through a lot, he has suffered many injuries and he is worried about them, but he works, he trains...he can't train so much, he can't train five days a week. He needs to be taken slow, but he is fit, he can play," Barnett admitted.
But these words echoed back to Zinedine Zidane, who rubbished Barnett's claims about the way his client should train.
"Of course Gareth can train for five days in a row. He just did so. After our game last weekend, he worked out with the rest of the team for five days," Zidane stated.
The former footballer tried to defuse the tension between the fans and Bale after Thursday's Copa elimination, in which the player did not witness neither the kickoff nor the final whistle.
"I don't see it as a sign of disrespect. He wants to be here, he wants to train and he wants to fight for a spot. There are moments in which he will not be considered, like in the last games, but that doesn't necessarily mean that we don't want him around," the coach concluded.
