The Spanish football federation banned Real Madrid star Gareth Bale for two matches for his red card against Las Palmas this week
MADRID, Spain, March 7 – Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale believes the Premier League handicaps their own teams due to the absence of a winter break in England.
Over the last eight seasons only one Premier League side, Chelsea, have won the Champions League title, while Real Madrid and Barcelona claimed the silverware five times between them during that period.
Bale doesn’t think it is because Spanish clubs have more quality, but rather due to the fixture congestion experienced by English sides.
“I think I know why, but you can’t change it. It’s the league itself. In every Premier League game, you have to be at 100 percent for 90 minutes or you lose,” Bale told The Sun.
“Spanish teams definitely know they have this edge over English teams. I think every country does, Spain, Italy, Germany – they all have a winter break.
“Also in Spain, you can be up at half-time against the bottom club and you can take your foot off the gas. You can take people off.
“If you try for only 45 minutes, you won’t win a match in the Premier League. Obviously, we still play but it’s not at the same 110 percent intensity.
“And the winter break is massive. In England, you’ll play four or five games and we don’t play any. You don’t get many rest days and it really does burn you out for a long time.”
