Jurgen Klopp insists he cannot believe the treatment Gareth Bale has been subjected to by Real Madrid fans as the the four-times Champions League winner prepares to play his final game for the club.
The 32-year-old has featured just seven times this season since Carlo Ancelotti’s return to the Bernabeu and will start tomorrow’s showpiece game against Liverpool in Paris on the substitutes’ bench at best.
Despite playing such a key role in Real’s most recent European successes, Bale has been targeted by the club’s supporters and the hostile local media this season, with one publication branding him a parasite.
Reviewing footage of the Champions League final four years ago when Bale scored twice to dash Liverpool’s hopes in Kiev, Klopp was almost lost for words when watching a clip of Bale’s incredible acrobatic effort which put his team 2-1 ahead.
‘People in Madrid don’t love him?’ questioned Klopp. ‘I would love him only for this goal to be honest if I was a Madrid fan. I cannot believe that.’
While Bale was the hero on that occasion, Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius effectively saw his Anfield career ended as a result of two catastrophic errors which gifted goals to Karim Benzema and Bale.
‘We all know what happened, we don’t have to make this story bigger,’ Klopp added.
‘It was of course a tragic situation 100%. Loris Karius is a really, really good boy and that night didn’t help.
‘Everything we are doing is in public and the whole world has an opinion about us constantly. Usually it’s not important.
‘Now in this moment if people think I’m an idiot or whatever there’s no problem because I feel fine in this moment in time. But if you think about yourself ‘God how could I do this’ and the world is going for you that’s really, really harsh.
‘That was the case in this moment for sure with Loris.’
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