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Real Madrid star Bale in doubt for Barça clash

Real Madrid look set to be without Gareth Bale for their Champions League trip to Liverpool on Wednesday after a scan revealed the Welshman has an abdominal injury.

Published: 20 October 2014 13:14 CEST
Real Madrid star Bale in doubt for Barça clash
Welshman Gareth Bale could also miss the first Clásico against Barcelona on Saturday, Spanish press reported. File photo: Christof Stache/AFP

"After the tests carried out on Gareth Bale by the Real Madrid medical team, a muscular injury has been diagnosed in his right pyramidalis muscle," the club said in a statement on Monday without stating how long they expect Bale to be sidelined.

The pyramidalis is a small muscle of the anterior abdominal wall.    

The 25-year-old was an unused substitute in Madrid's 5-0 thrashing of Levante on Saturday.

SEE ALSO: Ten things you need to know about Spain's La Liga — The Local gallery

And Real boss Carlo Ancelotti insisted after that game he wouldn't take any risks with Bale's fitness given his side face an even more demanding task when Barcelona visit the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday.

However, Madrid sports daily AS reported on Monday that Bale will also miss the first El Clásico of the season, as the Real Madrid–Barcelona games are known.

The European champions sit comfortably on top of Group B with maximum points from their opening two games, three points ahead of Liverpool and Basel.

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FOOTBALL

‘Something no black player wants’: Bilbao striker suffers racist abuse

Athletic Bilbao striker Inaki Williams said he was the victim of racist abuse on Saturday during his team's 1-1 draw away to Espanyol in La Liga.

Published: 26 January 2020 09:53 CET
'Something no black player wants': Bilbao striker suffers racist abuse
Bilbao striker Inaki Williams celebrates during Saturdays game against Espagnol. Photo: Cesar Manso/AFP
“I'm a little sad because of the draw but especially because I have suffered racist insults,” Williams told the official club website after the game. “It's something that no black player or player of any race wants to hear. It's something totally out of place.”
   
“People have to come to the stadium to enjoy the game, to cheer on their team, to enjoy football. It's a game of friendship, of the team,” added the forward. “The truth is that it has been a sad day because of what I am telling you,
because these events that are totally out of place do not have to happen.”
 
Inaki wrote later on social media: “It is very sad that today we continue to experience racism in football. We have to end it. Thank you for your support. #Nomocracies #Semiostracism.”
 
   
Athletic Bilbao offered their backing for the 25-year-old. “All our support to @Williaaams45,” the club wrote in a message on Twitter. “Before anything, zero tolerance for racism.”
 
La Liga and the Spanish Football Federation are yet to comment but La Liga president Javier Tebas said it had been a dark day for the sport after violence also broke out between fans of Barcelona and Valencia before their fixture at Mestalla.
   
“Today we have taken a step back in the work that we started years ago,” Tebas wrote on Twitter. “The violent incidents between fans of Barcelona and Valencia, the racist insults made at Inaki Williams — these things are doing a lot of damage to Spanish football. “La Liga takes responsibility. We will look at the clubs where there has been wrongdoing.”
   
Referee Jose Sanchez made no mention of racism in his official report of the match between Espanyol and Bilbao.
   
The game also continued, unlike in December, when a Spanish second division fixture between Rayo Vallecano and Albacete was suspended with the agreement of the two clubs and La Liga.
   
Some Rayo supporters had chanted “Zozulya is a Nazi” in the first half against Albacete's Ukrainian striker Roman Zozulya, who had previously played for Rayo.
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