"It's a bad sign for any athlete"

In light of the information divulged by Real Madrid regarding Gareth Bale's back injury, MARCA gathered the opinions of several prestigious Spanish doctors. The most convincing was Dr. Avelino Parajón: "If Real Madrid have signed Gareth Bale knowing about this protrusion, they have committed an error".

"That is not to say that tomorrow it can be operated on and he can continue playing, like has happened many times. But if he already has problems with protruding discs, that indicates that it is not a one-off", continued the doctor.

"When a person has those problems at that age, it suggests that he has a great possibility of suffering herniated discs and symptoms arising from that over time. It is a bad sign for any athlete", assures Parajón.