Zinedine Zidane insists Gareth Bale is ‘key member’ of Real Madrid squad despite fans booing him in Valencia draw
Welshman missed a sitter in 2-2 draw at the Bernabeu
ZINEDINE ZIDANE insists Gareth Bale is still a "key player" at Real Madrid - despite being booed in the 2-2 draw with Valencia.
Bale was already being jeered before the Bernabeu ramped up the noise when the Welsh wing wizard missed a sitter.
Zidane then hooked Bale with 15 minutes to go.
But the Real boss said: "He's a key player in the squad.
"Gareth is Gareth. We keep working hard and we rely on Gareth, just as is the case with the other players.
"Gareth's situation is good. He had scoring opportunities but did not convert them. We're going to keep working on this.
"I can't criticise my players, quite the contrary. I'm very happy with their work."
It the end it was a double from Real's rising star Marco Asensio that salvaged a point.
Los Blancos were presented with their La Liga trophy for last season's title win before kick-off.
And they were celebrating again when Asensio pounced on a loose pass to drive at the Valencia defence and fire in from the edge of the box.
Carlos Soler sidefooted in a Toni Lato cross to level, with the Bernabeu boo boys soon on Bale's case for a poor pass.
Karim Benzema missed a trio of good chances before the break, with Bale then nodding over an easy chance from Asensio's cross.
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And the Bale was hauled off by Zidane with 15 minutes to go, Lucas Vazquez coming on his place. Geoffrey Kondogbia then looked to have won it on his Valencia debut.
The France midfielder, on loan from Inter Milan, slotted in a controlled finish from Rodrigo's cut-back.
But Asensio denied them by curling a low free-kick around the wall for his fourth goal in four games.
Benzema had two more chances to win it.
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