Gareth Bale given No 50 shirt as he returns to action for Real Madrid with winger missing penalty

Gareth Bale missed a penalty on his return to action for Real Madrid where he was bizarrely given the No 50 shirt.

Bale started for Real in their friendly against AC Milan in Austria on Sunday but missed a penalty, which was easily saved by Mike Maignan.

The winger won the penalty himself. However, he was unable to score and was one of a host of players who were substituted at half time, with the game ending in a goalless draw. 

Gareth Bale missed a penalty as he returned to action for Real Madrid against AC Milan 

Bale, who is back from his loan spell at Tottenham, bizarrely wore the No 50 shirt for Real

Real Madrid drew 0-0 against AC Milan, with Bale completing 45 minutes in Austria

Bale is back at Real following his season-long loan spell at Tottenham.

However, the Wales international was given what seems like an unnecessarily high squad number. Bale previously wore the No 11 shirt for Real from 2013 to 2020.

However, before he headed to Tottenham on loan the shirt was given to Marco Asensio instead. Asensio wasn’t involved against Milan as he played for Spain at the Olympics.   

The likes of Luka Jovic and Martin Odegaard don’t have permanent squad numbers after coming back from loan but haven’t been given a temporary number as high as Bale’s. 

Bale wore No 11 for Real between 2013 and 2020 but that number was then given to Marco Asensio

The Wales international still has one year remaining on his contract with Real Madrid

The use of the number 50 may seem strange, but that was also the number that Eden Hazard wore when he made his Real debut in a friendly against Bayern Munich in 2019.

Hazard was later assigned a lower squad number and it is anticipated that the same scenario will occur for Bale if he remains part of the squad.

Bale is now into the final year of his contract with Real.

During his time at the club he has made 251 appearances, scoring 105 goals and providing 68 assists. He has won the Champions League four times, La Liga on two occasions and the Copa del Rey once.

Source: DailyMail Sports