Can Real Madrid fans give Bale a fond farewell? Real Madrid He will play his last game at the Bernabeu

Suffering relegation to the Segunda Division with a goal in the last five minutes at your own stadium in the penultimate game of the season is a tough blow. Despite that sheer disappointment, the majority of the 13,000 Girona fans inside Montilivi stayed in the stands. And they did not stay to whistle their players but to applaud their efforts during two great seasons in the top flight, their first ever campaigns in LaLiga Santander.

There was also the farewell to Diego Godin from Atletico Madrid after nine terrific seasons with the club, which was by far the highlight of the weekend.

In a week where the word 'failure' returned to be associated with the team which, only ten days earlier, was receiving high praise for winning their eighth league title in the last eleven seasons, those samples of greatness deserve to stand out for their exemplary nature. Between so much tension and rancour are the behaviours to imitate.

On Sunday, Keylor Navas and Gareth Bale will play their final match for Real Madrid. Without assessing the circumstances surrounding their departures, each very different cases, their contribution to the successes of the club in the last five years is indisputable: four Champions Leagues (three in the case of Keylor), four Club World Cups, four European Super Cups, one LaLiga, one Copa del Rey and one Supercopa de Espana which make up the second golden age of the most successful club in the world of sport. And those are big words. While the coach and those higher up at Madrid reach a consensus on certain players whose futures are in doubt, as is the case of Isco, Toni Kroos and Lucas Vázquez, the departures of the Costa Rican and the Welshman have been decided because Zidane has told them that he does not need them. Now is the process of managing their farewells in the best way possible, a procedure that, in the case of Bale, from within the club, foresee that it will be very complicated.

Keylor has the respect and affection of the Real Madrid supporters but Bale does not, or at least not many fans who come to the Bernabeu have not whistled at his recent performances. But both of them deserve from the fans a generous reception, to have perspective, to look back and know how to thank them for their contribution to a period that seems unrepeatable. In the case of the goalkeeper, his good relationship with Zidane and with the fans assures him a kind farewell: he will probably start and leave the stadium to cheers

Bale is the one who, due to his cold relationship with the coach and with the fans, does not have a warm farewell guaranteed from Real Madrid. It would not be fair for him to leave out of the back door. In spite of his lack of regularity in the team due to his 29 injuries which he, more than anyone, would have liked to have avoided, his introverted nature and the fact he never managed to reach the expectations that many had placed on him when he arrived, Gareth Bale has always tried to give the best version of himself to Real Madrid, and in several finals he achieved it, being decisive in these successes. So the Real Madrid fans must know how to be gracious and thank him with a farewell that he deserves.