Owen: "Bale is a world class player"

Posted Tuesday, June 16, 2015 by Marca.com

Owen:

Ex-Real Madrid player Michael Owen has declared that even though Real Madrid have a fantastic team, they need just a little more pizzazz in order to reach Barca's level.

"Real Madrid have a great team right now. Maybe they need a little more to be better than Barcelona at the moment, but they have a fantastic squad", said the Englishman, who was then a little guarded when asked for his opinion on the signing of Rafa Benítez as the first team's new manager.

"I spent very little time with Rafa at Liverpool, but I can say that he is a very good coach", Owen replied, before going on to give his take on Gareth Bale's present situation.

"I thought that Bale had a decent start to his career at Real Madrid. He's quiet and shy by nature, but I think that the more fit and confident he is, he'll improve even more. He's a world class player", he said of the Welshman, who he played against in the Premier League.

Finally, the ex-player, who had just taken part in the 'Legends' match between Real Madrid and Liverpool veterans at the Santiago Bernabéu, looked back on the 2004/05 season that he played for 'Los Blancos'.

"I really enjoyed my season at Real Madrid. The fans made me feel very welcome and that made me very excited to return to the Bernabéu", he concluded.