Real Madrid boss Rafa Benitez has defended his handling of Gareth Bale as the Welshman sits out Wednesday’s crunch Champions League clash at Paris Saint-Germain.

Bale had just returned from three weeks out with a calf injury when he played full games for Wales in their final European Championship qualifiers against Bosnia-Herzegovina and Andorra.

And after then returning to domestic action, he only lasted 45 minutes of Madrid’s 3-0 victory over Levante on Saturday before being substituted with a recurrence of the injury, angering Los Blancos fans who feel he is favouring his country over his club side.

Benitez also drew criticism for being deceitful with the media after initially claiming that Bale was replaced at half-time against Levante because of tiredness, with the truth that he was injured only emerging two days later.

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But the defiant coach insisted: “Bale was tired. He said that he had a knock but he wanted to continue, and we substituted him. Only later did we see that he was injured.”

Benitez also came out fighting in the face of allegations that he is a negative coach, following a comment by PSG boss Laurent Blanc that Madrid are a “defensive team”.

With 18 goals in eight league games, Madrid are currently the leading scorers in La Liga, while his Napoli team were only outscored by Juventus during his two seasons in Serie A, and Chelsea were second-highest scorers in the Premier League under Benitez.

He said: “The figures at Chelsea, Napoli and Madrid speak for themselves.”