Neither the possibility of making five changes, nor a schedule to the sprint and without respite give Bale and James the opportunity to enjoy minutes at Real Madrid. They had the door open last summer, but the options that arose on the horizon did not convince them well or the club. And in the first two games of this league restart they have barely appeared by the team.
Bale had his chance from the bench in the game against Eibar. Half an hour in which it went practically unnoticed. No shot, 4 missed passes out of 7 attempted and 5 balls lost. Scarce credentials to aspire to more prominence in a position that is the one that gathers the most competition right now in Madrid. For occupying the right side of the attack fight Asensio, Brahim, Rodrygo, the injured Lucas Vázquez and also a Vinicius who with Hazard has it more complicated on the other flank. Despite Zidane's efforts to take advantage of his quality and put in the team dynamics, it is difficult for the Welshman to respond to the confidence of his coach. Bale does not score in the League from his double to Villarreal on the third day, on a September 1 that is already far away.
Without yet displaying a great display of rotations, Zidane has already used 17 players in this league restart. Of those available, only unpublished minutes remain, Areola, Brahim, Isco (injured in the second game, but called up in the first) and James, in addition to the youth squad Altube and Javi Hernández. The Colombian has not played a minute in the league since the Mallorca debacle (October 19, Matchday 9).
Although last summer he came to have a foot and a half outside of Madrid after his two years on loan at Bayern, Zidane trusted James in seven of the first nine league games. 341 minutes he scored a goal. After playing a few days later 11 minutes in Istanbul against Galatasaray an injury took him away from the team. And also from the League. In almost eight months he has only played 13 minutes against Valencia in the Super Cup with the semifinal already resolved and the three Cup matches (all as a starter). He is the 21st player in the squad in minutes (650 total) this season and the 22nd (228 minutes) so far in 2020.
Little presence for those who are two of the three most expensive signings of Real Madrid in the last decade (the other is Hazard). The British cost 101 million euros in 2013 and the Colombian 75 after shining in the 2014 World Cup. Galactic price. Two galactics who are now practically missing