Gareth Bale: La Liga is best league in the world

• Posted on July 24, 2014July 24, 2014
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale believes La Liga is superior to the Premier League as James Rodriguez becomes the latest big-name player to arrive in Spain.

The Welshman helped Real secure the Champions League last season and will link up with Rodriguez, who completed a £63m move to the Bernabeu this week after some impressive displays for Colombia in the World Cup.

Bale learned his trade in the Premier League, proving his worth during spells at Southampton and Tottenham before joining Real in a record breaking £85.3m switch last September.

He faces Barcelona’s top stars such as Lionel Messi, Xavi, Neymar and Iniesta on a regular basis and feels the best talent has been lured to La Liga.

“For me I think the Spanish league is the most exciting,” he said. “It’s the world’s top players there. Barcelona, Real Madrid are always in the Champions League, either winning it or coming very close.

“The Premier League is a great league. I think it’s very close, but yeah I think we are attracting the best players now to La Liga and it’s making it more exciting and it’s great to be involved in it.”

Bale is also excited about Madrid’s prospects for the upcoming season as they prepare for theInternational Champions Cup in the USA.

“We enter six competitions and we want to win every one,” he said. “That would be amazing. We are hungrier than ever.

“No team has retained the Champions League so we want to do that.

“And there is a special touch for me because the Super Cup (against Sevilla) is in my home town (Cardiff). Hopefully we can do the job and get the trophy.”

The arrival of James Rodriguez and Toni Kroos will lead to intense competition for places at Real, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Angel Di Maria, Isco, Karim Benzema and Bale already in town.

Bale said: “James is a great signing. He has shown what quality he has in the World Cup and hopefully he can produce for Real Madrid what he did for Colombia.

“It’s for the manager to decide what system we play and who plays. You need to perform well to keep your place, everyone knows that.”

Bale may not be fluent in Spanish but says he feels very settled at Madrid..

“It’s very difficult when you first come over,” he said. “But they are such a great bunch of boys in the changing room here and they made me feel welcome.

“A lot of them speak English, which helped me.

“Getting used to the climate was quite a big change but I have a great team around me, which helps.

“I took a bit of time to settle in but I feel very comfortable now.

“It is exactly what I hoped for at Real Madrid. I still need to learn the language but that will come in time.”

Sky Sports 5 will bring you action from Spain’s top division as well as the Dutch Eredivisie and European Championship qualifiers, with coverage starting on August 12.

-skysports