Gareth Bale fires warning to Jude Bellingham about life at Real Madrid and tells him how to avoid ‘a lot of stick’
GARETH BALE warned Jude Bellingham he will have to become a "puppet" and "play the game" at Real Madrid.
Bale spent nine years at Real and won three LaLiga titles as well as five Champions League trophies until his acrimonious exit in 2022.
The legendary forward stood out at the Santiago Bernabeu, where he formed a dominating trio with Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, but fell out with Spanish media.
The Tottenham hero suffered a raft of injuries during his final few years at Madrid and struggled for minutes but still played for Wales during various international breaks.
That led to a series of gruesome attacks from the press as Marca branded him "the Welsh parasite" after he left for international duty last year.
The 34-year-old, who retired in January, made a special guest appearance on and revealed all he wanted to do during his time with Los Blancos was "play football and go home".
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But Bale advised Bellingham not to follow his example as even his stunning start, which saw him score 13 goals and three assists in 14 matches, won't save him from getting " a lot of stick".
The Welshman argues the England international will have to put up with the media, and preferably be speaking in Spanish.
Bale said: "The biggest advice [is] play the game at Madrid.
"If you don't play the game and do what the media want, speak to them and basically be a puppet, you do get a lot of stick.
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"You'll see a lot of Galacticos, they'll act like Galacticos, do what the press want, playing the game of being at Real Madrid.
"That's probably where I was a bit of a downfall. I didn't want to do it.
"I just wanted to play football and go home. It hindered me and that made them attack me a bit more.
"So my advice would be, honestly, just play the game of Real Madrid off the field.
"You have to speak after games, make sure you try and speak in Spanish, do those kinds of things."