Bale suffers another injury ahead of Madrid derby

Gareth Bale fell to yet another injury during Thursday's training session, hampering his preparations for Real Madrid's first trip to the Wanda Metropolitano.

The club statement describes the winger's latest setback as a muscle injury to his left leg, and comes after he opted against joining the Wales camp over the international break in a bid to regain fitness for Nov. 18's tussle with Atletico Madrid.

Bale will undergo further tests on the ailment, with Marca estimating a layoff of several weeks for the Southampton academy product.

The 28-year-old was initially picked in the Welsh squad ahead of friendlies with France and Panama - the first matches since his country's hopes of making the 2018 World Cup were dashed by Ireland in Cardiff.

Thankfully for Zinedine Zidane, Bale was soon training with Real Madrid instead, somewhat unsurprisingly given he hadn't featured in his club's previous eight outings before Wales called. The French manager will be hoping the new complaint isn't a repeat of Bale's calf issues, a recurring problem that's sidelined the player for 18 matches over 2017, according to transfermarkt.