"I tore my disc in my back when I was 18 at Tottenham. I played my whole career with that. I had a lot of calf injuries which was due to my back. I never came out and said this when I was playing because some people would say 'he's making excuses'. It was manageable but over time it caught up with me."
"I never knew when it would come, and obviously people were like, 'oh, he doesn't look after himself' [but] I would literally make sure my calves and soleus were bulletproof. But again, if it misfires and it goes, there's nothing I could do about it. I'd have an injection in my back to calm it all down."
Gareth Bale, who won five Champions League titles with Real Madrid and became one of Britain's most successful players, retired at age 33 following the 2022 World Cup. He revealed he suffered a torn disc in his back at age 18 while at Tottenham, which he carried throughout his career without publicly disclosing it to avoid appearing to make excuses. The injury caused recurring calf problems and required ongoing management, including back injections. Real Madrid was aware of the issue when he joined in 2013. Bale took extreme precautions, even brushing his teeth on his heels to prevent calf injury, but ultimately the accumulated damage contributed to his decision to retire from professional football.
Read at www.bbc.com
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