Interview: Gareth Bale on Real Madrid’s chances in El Derbi madrileño

Interview: Gareth Bale on Real Madrid’s chances in El Derbi madrileño

Real Madrid are gearing up to land their third win in a week when they face Atletico Madrid – bwin caught up with Gareth Bale to get the inside track.

Los Blancos are 6/4 favourites to gain revenge for their Copa del Rey exit at the hands of Diego Simeone’s men in their latest meeting.

Atleti, meanwhile, are 19/10 outsiders for victory in front of the Vicente Calderon partisans and a second consecutive draw between the two sides is a 12/5 bet.

Having played in numerous north London derbies during his time at Tottenham, Bale is vastly experienced in the pressure-cooker atmosphere of a high-profile bragging-rights battle.

Despite being in just his second season at Santiago Bernabeu the Welshman has already racked up an enormous nine meetings with Real’s Madrid rivals.

He only played Arsenal once more during six campaigns as a Lilywhite.

Gareth Bale strikes for Tottenham against Arsenal

Bale will be keen to add to the one goal he has struck against Los Colchoneros in last season’s Champions League final and can be backed at 7/4 to do so, while it’s 4/1 he bags in a Real win.

Sign up for a new account at bwin.com today for a £30 free bet that turns a £120 profit if the 25-year-old scores in a Real Madrid win.

The Welshman also found time to praise the recent form of Karim Benzema who has recently surpassed Fernando Hierro in the club’s all-time scoring list.

Raphael Varane and Marcelo congratulate Karim Benzema on his scoring against Real Sociedad

Benzema is 6/4 to net his 18th of the season in the derby.

Conversation eventually turned to the prospects of Bale’s first Primera Division title for Los Blancos, but he wouldn’t be drawn on the subject, instead insisting that the side won’t be looking beyond the next game in their quest for the championship.

Real are currently 9/25 favourites to win the league, with Barcelona second in the betting at 5/2 and Atletico Madrid third at a distant 20/1.

Casillas sets Real Madrid historic treble target

Casillas sets Real Madrid historic treble target

Iker Casillas is hoping that Real Madrid can emulate the likes of Manchester United and Celtic by winning a historic treble this term.

For all their success down the years, the Spanish giants have never managed a clean sweep of both domestic trophies and the Champions League in the same season.

However, under the shrewd guidance of Carlo Ancelotti, Los Blancos are three points clear at the top of La Liga, into the final of the Copa del Rey and strong favourites to advance to the Champions League quarter-finals at the expense of Schalke.

Casillas has won almost every club trophy available since making his debut for Real in 1999 and also captained Spain to two European Championship wins (2008 and 2012) and World Cup glory in 2006.

But the legendary stopper is hungry for more silverware and is desperate to see Madrid join a seven-strong band of treble-winning teams that includes United’s class of 1999 and Celtic’s 1967 ‘Lisbon Lions’.

“I’d like the last piece of news for this season to say that Real Madrid had won the treble,” said Casillas.

“That on May 24th, Real Madrid won the first treble in its history.

“We know it is difficult because there are other teams that also want to win titles.

“But we are where we want to be right now, which is fighting in all three competitions.”

In an exclusive interview with bwin, which you can watch by opening the player at the top of this page, Casillas also discusses the favourite moment of his career, who he considers to be Schalke’s danger man, his love of padel, and more.

Real Madrid are currently priced at 2/5 to build a first-leg lead over the Bundesliga side in Gelsenkirchen on Wednesday night, with the draw available at 15/4 and the hosts rated as 23/4 outsiders.

In addition to United and Celtic, the five other teams to have won the treble are Ajax (1972), PSV (1988), Barcelona (2009), Inter Milan (2010) and Bayern Munich (2013).

EXCLUSIVE: Watch Bayern stars flaunt slick basketball moves

EXCLUSIVE: Watch Bayern stars flaunt slick basketball moves

Bayern Munich made the headlines last week for losing to an under-strength Manchester City side in the Champions League and then again yesterday for drawing Arsenal in the last 16 for the second year running.

But now you must prepare to witness the European champions as you’ve never seen them before.

Regular readers will know that here at bwin HQ, we love to use our Skills Series videos to put the technique of the best players on the planet to the test.

In the past, we’ve brought you Gareth Bale wowing his new Real Madrid team-mates with some nifty footwork.

Then there was Carlos Tevez bossing a Juventus-themed challenge.

And who could forget Manchester United star Wayne Rooney scoring an incredible bicycle kick while blindfolded?

However, we quickly realised ahead of this latest instalment that Bayern are an exceptional case.

Seeing as Pep Guardiola’s men have been almost peerless on a football pitch in the past 18 months, some lateral thinking was required to really take them out of their comfort zone.

Enter forward Thomas Muller, midfield enforcer Javi Martinez and Brazilian defensive duo Dante and Rafinha – on to a basketball court.

What happened next was as impressive as it was unexpected.

In the video – which you can watch by opening the player at the top of this page – the quartet appear to make the transition from foot-to-eye to hand-to-eye coordination effortlessly, peppering the basket at will.

The sort of teamwork famously demanded by Guardiola is also frequently on display as they pull off all manner of alley-oops and slam dunks, passing some tricky tests with flying colours.

And if you’re still hungry for more after checking out the footage, how about the chance to win a shirt signed by the entire Bayern Munich squad too?

Don’t say we’re not good to you…enjoy!

EXCLUSIVE: Watch Carlos Tevez school Juve team-mates in skills challenge

EXCLUSIVE: Watch Carlos Tevez school Juve team-mates in skills challenge

Fans of Manchester United, Manchester City and West Ham know all about Carlos Tevez’s abilities with a ball at his feet and we’ve got exclusive evidence that he’s lost none of his sparkle since moving to Juventus.

Open the player above to watch the Argentine nimbly dribbling in between multiple moving car tyres and hammering shots through some almost impossibly small targets, both static and mobile.

Tevez’s fancy footwork is the undoubted highlight of the second instalment of the new bwin Skills Series, a six-part collection of videos in which we put the technique of some of the  finest players on the planet to the test.

A few weeks ago, we brought you the world’s most expensive footballer, Gareth Bale, dazzling Real Madrid team-mates Karim Benzema, Luka Modric and Jese Rodriguez with some amazing rugby ball work.

And judging by the new video, Tevez was clearly determined to follow suit by reminding everyone of the talents he displayed regularly during his trophy-laden seven-year stay in the Premier League before departing for Turin last summer.

The 29-year-old was joined by Juve chums Fabio Quagliarella, Andrea Barzagli and Fernando Llorente to take our obstacle course-themed challenges and ended up comfortably topping the leaderboard on five points.

Barzagli could only manage two points, while Quagliarella and Llorente, with whom Tevez has dovetailed increasingly effectively in recent weeks, were forced to settle for a solitary point apiece.

The next assignment on Tevez’s list will presumably be scoring in Sunday’s huge clash between Juventus and Napoli in Serie A – an eventuality you can back at 5/4 by clicking the ‘Add to Betslip button’ at the bottom of this page.

But first, sit back and take in this performance – and if you enjoy it, share the video with your friends on Twitter or like it on our official YouTube or Facebook pages.

Keep your eyes peeled for part three of the bwin Skills Series…

EXCLUSIVE: Watch Gareth Bale shock Madrid team-mates with AMAZING skills

EXCLUSIVE: Watch Gareth Bale shock Madrid team-mates with AMAZING skills

Real Madrid may have paid Tottenham Hotspur a world-record transfer fee to sign Gareth Bale for his incredible skills with a football, but we’ve got exclusive evidence that he is equally special when it comes to kicking a rugby ball.

Open the player above to watch the £86 million man size up a chipped cross before hammering an astonishing volley from the edge of the area straight into a water bottle placed on the angle of crossbar and post by former Spurs team-mate Luka Modric.

Just to reinforce the point, Bale then unleashes a drop-kick with the kind of unerring accuracy that even countryman Leigh Halfpenny, the famously dead-eyed full-back for the Wales rugby union team, would be proud of.

Both pieces of fancy footwork draw audible gasps of amazement from Real colleagues Modric, Karim Benzema and Jese, who also show off some fancy footwork with the oval-shaped ball, plus a squash ball and an exercise ball.

Bale’s impressive training ground display serves as a timely reminder of his talents ahead of the first El Clasico of the season this weekend, for which he could return to the Madrid starting line-up after recovering from a thigh injury.

Home advantage sees Barcelona as the current 39/50 favourites to win the battle of La Liga’s two behemoths, with the draw available at 14/5 and Los Merengues ranked as 3/1 outsiders.

But regardless of what happens at the Nou Camp on Saturday, if you like what you see in the video, be sure to keep a close eye on news.bwin.com/en/ and the official bwin YouTube, Facebook and Twitter channels.

Bale and his Bernabeu buddies were strutting their stuff for the first instalment of a brand new initiative, the bwin Skills Series, so there will be plenty more where that came from in the coming months.

Through our partnerships with Real Madrid, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Marseille and Anderlecht, we will be challenging stars who regularly grace the Champions League to show just how good they really are with our range of technique-based assignments.

The results, as already shown by our quartet of galacticos, are likely to be spectacular.

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