Football
Dermot Corrigan, Madrid correspondent 8y

Real Madrid's Sergio Ramos may speak with Gareth Bale about staying focused

Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos says he may have a word with Gareth Bale to keep him focused on his football, while adding that he has spoken with Cristiano Ronaldo about the risks of playing too many games.

Bale missed Madrid's 3-0 win against Villarreal on Wednesday with his latest muscle injury, amid reports in Spain that he had played 36 holes of golf the day after he picked up the problem during the 5-1 victory over Getafe last weekend.

Bale did attend the Spanish Open tournament in Cadiz on Sunday as a guest of golfer Sergio Garcia, but reports that he also played two rounds himself have not been confirmed by anyone at Madrid.

Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane claimed not to know whether Bale had been playing golf or not, and the former Tottenham man has now been declared fit ahead of Saturday's La Liga game at Rayo Vallecano.

Speaking on the El Partido de las 12 radio show, Ramos said that with Madrid still in the title race and the Champions League semifinals, his team needed to focus on football.

"I don't know if he has played golf or not, but we must have all 20 senses focused at 100 percent at this stage of the season when we are playing for so much," Ramos said. "From when you wake up until you go to bed you think just about football, as everything is on the line. Anything that could harm your football is not good. I've not said anything to him [Bale] about it, but maybe I should."

Ronaldo played against Villarreal, but left the pitch late on with an apparent thigh muscle problem.

The Portugal captain has used social media to play down the seriousness of the injury, although he is expected to miss Saturday's game at Rayo, and may not be at 100 percent for Tuesday's Champions League semifinal first leg against Manchester City.

Zidane appeared to suggest after Wednesday's game that he would like to rest Ronaldo, but that the player's hunger for individual top-scoring honours made it hard to convince him to sit games out.

Ronaldo has started every single La Liga and Champions League game for Madrid this season, while other players including Bale have been rotated at times.

Ramos said he had spoken with Ronaldo about not overdoing it, but that the forward had his own individual challenges which he saw as important.

"We all know Cristiano," he said. "He is super-ambitious, he wants to play every game, to score goals even when he is sleeping. Maybe he should have a different focus, because we all reach an age when it is not bad to rest from time to time. You know the season is long and there are many games.

"I have spoken to him about this, but he does not like to rest when there are individual trophies like the Golden Shoe and others. So it is normal he does not want to rest when he's up against other players who don't rest. I'd prefer not to talk too much about this now -- we hope this injury and little issue he has won't stop him playing on Tuesday."

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