Gareth Bale has revealed he has not spoken to ex-Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane since they retained their European crown – and received no praise for his stunning overhead kick in the final.
With the game poised at 1-1, the 29-year-old came off the bench in Kiev and within three minutes scored one the best goals ever seen in a Champions League final to put the Spanish giants ahead.
His spectacular goal sealed a third successive European triumph for Los Blancos in what was to be Zidane’s final game in charge.
And after scoring such a great goal, some would find it strange a manager would not utter a word about such a great strike to his player.
Bale told FourFourTwo magazine: “He didn’t talk to me about it – I still haven’t spoken to him since.
“Our relationship was good. I wouldn’t say we were best mates, it was just a normal professional relationship.”
However, he admits he was not happy to be benched against Liverpool in Kiev after a strong finish to the domestic campaign.
Bale added: “I was really frustrated not to start.“I’d played pretty well since coming back from the last little niggle I’d had in December.
“I scored five goals in my last four league games of the season and felt like I deserved to be involved from the start. “I was desperate to get onto that pitch. When I ran on I was still a bit angry, and that’s probably why I did what I did next.
“I’ve watched the goal back a couple of times. I didn’t feel like I had a point to prove – I wanted to do it for myself and the team.“If you play in any final you want to be going home with the trophy, no matter what it takes. If it meant waiting to come on for the last 30 minutes, so be it.”