Real Madrid: Casemiro defends Bale against abusive fans

Real Madrid midfielder Casemiro did not hold back and spoke out in defence of teammate Gareth Bale after the latter was met with whistles when he came off the bench to play in the closing minutes of the club's La Liga clash against Getafe on Saturday. Real Madrid clinched a 2-0 victory to maintain a comfortable 12-point lead at the top of the table, but the Brazilan was not happy about the way the fans reacted to his teammate's introduction into the match.

Bale had been away from action for most of the past few seasons due mostly to various injuries. He was given a rare opportunity by manager Carlo Ancelotti to return to competitive action for the club over the weekend, but the fans greeted him with whistles instead of applause. He entered the pitch in place of Karim Benzema for the final 16 minutes of the match, and Casemiro was not impressed by the reception given to his teammate.

"When a player is whistled at, we all are whistled at," Casemiro said while talking to the press on Monday ahead of the second leg of Real Madrid's Champions League quarter-final tie against Chelsea FC. "You can't agree with that. I didn't like it, because Bale is historic. When a player like that is whistled at, the history of this club is whistled at. I hope that people give us goosebumps tomorrow. We need them," he added.

Indeed, Casemiro shares the thoughts of Ancelotti, who also feels that Bale needs to be treated better by the Bernabeu faithful. After all, the Welshman had scored important goals in two Champions League finals.

Indeed, Bale had been a very important player in Real Madrid's big title-winning games in the past. With Benzema proving to be more and more irreplaceable. it is important for the manager and everyone else to allow players to gain confidence to perform in the rare occasions when he is unavailable for the remaining months of the current campaign.

Luckily for Real Madrid however, the Frenchman is fit to play when they welcome Chelsea on Tuesday. They are already sitting in a 3-1 advantage thanks to a Benzema hat-trick in Stamford Bridge, but Casemiro thinks they should not believe Chelsea manger Thomas Tuchel's claim that the Blues have a small chance to fight back.

"We can't trust anything, no matter what Tuchel said. They are the current champions. We need the fans. The key to everything is the [Real Madrid] badge, winning when nobody believes it. As they say: 'Until the end, let's go Real'.'

In his regard, he asked the fans to focus on supporting the players on the pitch instead of whistling.