Marcelo adamant Bale absence no problem for Real Madrid

Real Madrid defender Marcelo rejected the notion that Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Betis was down to the absence of Gareth Bale and has stressed the capital club can cope without the Welshman.

Bale missed this weekend’s trip to Betis due to a calf problem and was replaced by James Rodriguez at the Benito Villamarin.

The Colombia international provided the assist for Karim Benzema’s equaliser, but could not prevent Madrid from spilling points.

“It would be unfair to say that we missed Bale when you look at the squad we have,” Marcelo told the club’s official website.

“James had a great game, he worked very hard, just as the whole team did.

“We’ve got enough in the squad to play well when one player is out injured, although of course Bale is a great player.”

Sunday’s draw was the first time Madrid failed to win since Zinedine Zidane replaced Rafa Benitez as the man in charge, but Marcelo feels they put in a fine performance nonetheless.

“We came into the game on the back of some good performances and I think that, the result apart, it was another great performance,” he added.

“We showed great attitude and we created chances. We didn’t have much luck, but we have to look to take the positives out of the game. I’m sure that we’re going to improve and we have to see in which areas we made errors.

“In the first half, in the opening minutes we weren’t on it, but after that we saw a totally different Real Madrid performance. We saw that physically we are in good condition. Games like this one are very tiring, but we have a plan, and we’re going to follow it.”