Saturday, August 14, 2021 at 2:20 PM• Mart Oude Nijeweeme • Last update: 14:31

Gareth Bale has received support from an unexpected source. The Real Madrid attacker returned from Tottenham Hotspur this summer, but was not warmly welcomed by everyone in Spain. Unjustified, Fernando Pacheco thinks. The former Real goalkeeper, who faces his former employer with Deportivo Alavés on Saturday evening in the opening game of the season, asks for respect for Bale. “I’ve always said, ‘I’ve seen Bale train and when he’s fit, he’s the best player in the world’.”

Bale made his first minutes for Real Madrid last Sunday since June 2020. The attacker was on the field in the Wörthersee Stadium in Austria in the first half of the exhibition game with AC Milan (0-0). Bale missed a penalty and immediately received the necessary criticism. “You have to respect them,” Pacheco says to Goal on Bale and the equally unfortunate Eden Hazard. “They deserved it. I’ve always said the same thing: ‘I’ve seen Bale train and when he’s fit, he’s the best player in the world. We’ll have to see how Hazard and Bale come out this season. to achieve it is the absolute best in the world.”

For Real, the new season in LaLiga starts on Saturday with the away game against Alavés. Pacheco, who went through Real’s youth academy and left the club for Alavés in 2015, knew the Royal twice in the past, including last year. “We will have to play very solidly and play a practically perfect game to surprise Real,” said Alavés’ goalkeeper. “We will both not be 100 percent fit at kick-off due to minor injuries, but it might be better for us to meet them on the first day of the season than later in the season. Then they will be even better attuned to each other. “

It remains to be seen whether Carlo Ancelotti will call on Bale on Saturday. The coach, who returned this summer, did include the Welshmen in his 21-man squad. Unlike Bale, Hazard has not yet played this preparation, but is part of the selection. “Hazard started with an individual training program, but I think he is almost getting fit,” Ancelotti said during the closing press conference. “I am convinced that he will return to his best level. He is ready. We had a pretty intense preparation and the players have done an excellent job, physically, technically and tactically.”