The Welsh FA have confirmed that Gareth Bale reported to the Wales World Cup camp with an injury which kept him out of the Real Madrid v Barcelona game on Sunday.

The injury is a sore back which has restricted his movement over the last forty eight hours. So much so he chose to fly to Cardiff on Sunday to seek extra treatment. He was expected to be at least be on the bench for the ‘El Classico’ which Barça won 4-0. His omission did cause some concern but we had a source close to the Welsh training camp who allayed any fears of a permanent withdrawal.

Wales report from Swansea Independent here ⚽️
Gareth Bale Injury latest

That being said the Welsh FA have stated that Bale will receive treatment in the coming two days for the injury, and Aaron Ramsey will also be closely monitored after completing sixty plus minutes of his league debut on Sunday for Glasgow Rangers. In a way it’s good news for Wales who face Austria in a must win game on Thursday night in the World Cup play off semi final. Now Cymru medical staff will know exactly what the issues are for Bale, and how to treat them. Our source laughed (joked) this afternoon “You didn’t really think Gareth was going to pull out of this one did you ? He arrived in great spirits, and he even had his golf clubs with him”

Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti said of Bale: “He didn’t feel well yesterday after training. He tried this morning but he wasn’t up to playing. He’s now going to join up with his national team and they’ll decide whether he plays or not.” Bale has endured a miserable season in what is set to be the last of his nine-year stay in Madrid. The 32-year-old has played just 77 minutes of club football since featuring against Real Betis on August 28.

A fit Gareth Bale would be a serious plus for Wales come Thursday night, he won’t want to miss it and you just get the feeling he would give up a round of golf just to be there.

Austria Latest
Austria have made four enforced changes from their initial squad for the match against Cymru in Cardiff on Thursday through injury.
Manager Franco Foda will be without the services of Florian Grillitsch, Philipp Lienhart, Christopher Trimmel and Dejan Ljubicic, while on Monday, Kevin Danso, who was called up as one of the replacements for the injured quartet, was also ruled out due to a persistent ankle problem.

Andreas Weimann, Alessandro Schöpf, Stefan Ilsanker and Maximilian Ullmann will now take their places in the squad ahead of the match. Meanwhile, Cymru manager Rob Page has called on the Red Wall to create a special atmosphere at the Cardiff City Stadium from the start. "The importance of the anthem," he explained. "When you've got the supporters behind you like that, taking you into a game, for the first five or ten minutes the adrenaline is still pumping through your veins. The supporters can't underestimate their importance and the help they give the players."

Photographs licensed from Reuters

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