Gareth Bale has revealed he carried a secret injury throughout his career, with the problem eventually leading to his early retirement.
Bale, 36, won five Champions League titles with Real Madrid to become one of Britain’s most successful players.
He called time on his playing days at the age of 33 shortly after playing for Wales at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
He has now disclosed details of a back injury suffered while a teenager at Spurs that he says contributed to his decision to step away from the game.
Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, Bale said: “I tore my disc in my back when I was 18 at Tottenham. I played my whole career with that.
“I had a lot of calf injuries which was due to my back. I never came out and said this when I was playing because some people would say ‘he’s making excuses’.
“It was manageable but over time it caught up with me.”
Bale’s move to Real Madrid in 2013 broke football’s transfer record and he says the Spanish giants were aware of the issue.
He called the problem “manageable” but said it hung over his time in La Liga, where he played a key role in the club’s return to European dominance.
He says he was even forced to brush his teeth while standing on his heels because of the risk of injury to his calf.
“I never knew when it would come,” he said, “and obviously people were like, ‘oh, he doesn’t look after himself’ [but] I would literally make sure my calves and soleus were bulletproof.
“But again, if it misfires and it goes, there’s nothing I could do about it. I’d have an injection in my back to calm it all down.”
Arguably Wales’ greatest footballer, Bale broke records for appearances and goals for the men’s national side having made his debut as a 16-year-old.
He was talismanic as Wales reached the semi-finals of Euro 2016 and also helped them reach the last 16 of Euro 2020 before scoring the goal against Ukraine that booked a place in the country’s first World Cup in 64 years.
“I always got to a point where I guess a lot of people do in their career, do you keep going for what reason? What else do I want to achieve?” said Bale, who retired with 111 Wales appearances and 41 goals, having also played in MLS with LAFC.
“I felt like I achieved everything I wanted to. The last thing I did was qualify for a World Cup, which was the one thing that was last on my list.
“I felt it was the right time. It was a few years prior that I was probably ready but it just caught up with me.”
Bale also said a family illness was a factor in retiring and added he had considered post-retirement plans for several years before announcing in January 2023 he was hanging up his boots.
That has included an interest in club ownership, with Bale forming part of a consortium that showed an interest in buying hometown club Cardiff City last summer.
Cardiff did not give serious consideration to the proposal that Bale admits “didn’t materialise” but he says ownership remains an ambition.
“I always said when I retired, I wanted one, two, three years just to decompress, enjoy the kids and then try and find a few paths I want to do,” he added.
“Something like that interests me more than… going into management. I feel like I’ve done that as a player and you’ve got to put even more hours in as a coach and a manager.”
