Gareth Bale has revealed that Lionel Messi indirectly shaped how he and Cristiano Ronaldo operated together during their Real Madrid years.
The Welsh star spent five seasons playing alongside Ronaldo at the Bernabeu.
During that period, Bale quickly learned that Ronaldo’s relentless goal-chasing often dictated how attacking situations unfolded.
Gareth Bale explains Cristiano Ronaldo’s moments at Real Madrid
Speaking on The Overlap podcast, Gareth Bale explained what it was like playing alongside Cristiano Ronaldo during Real Madrid’s most successful era.
“I’ve had a few arm flails when I’ve missed [my shot] when I maybe could have passed to him [Cristiano Ronaldo].
“You always have to take it [that way] because that is his drive, his motivation, he just wants to score not just one, but he wants to score three, four, five, six a game if he can,” Bale said.
Bale admitted those moments sometimes led to visible frustration from Ronaldo on the pitch.
However, he also understood that the Portuguese star’s relentless desire to score was one of the reasons Real Madrid remained so dangerous in attack.
For teammates, that meant accepting Ronaldo’s mentality as part of what made him such a dominant goalscorer.
Gareth Bale says Lionel Messi’s rivalry drove Cristiano Ronaldo
Bale believes Ronaldo’s obsession with scoring was closely linked to his long-standing rivalry with Lionel Messi.
“You know he’s chasing records and he wants to score this [many] and he wants to beat Messi doing that. You get it and also, you can’t argue because he’s scoring the goals,” Bale further added.
“Even when he came back to Man United, people were like, ‘Oh, he’s not the same’. But he was still scoring goals, which is the hardest thing to do in football.
“It was always a big confidence booster having him in the team,” the former Real Madrid star concluded.
The rivalry between Messi and Ronaldo dominated world football for more than a decade.
For players like Bale inside the Real Madrid dressing room, that competition often translated into Ronaldo pushing himself and his teammates to produce more goals.
In Bale’s view, that relentless drive ultimately helped fuel Real Madrid’s success during one of the most dominant periods in the club’s history.
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