Gareth Bale was not fit to travel with Real Madrid for their pre-season friendly against Tottenham in Munich, manager Zinedine Zidane has said.
Wales international Bale on Tuesday missed the Audi Cup match, which Spurs won 1-0, following the collapse of his proposed move to China.
The 30-year-old has been told he can leave Real after falling out of favour under Zidane, but the manager said he was unavailable for their most recent pre-season clash.
"He didn't travel because he wasn't fit," Zidane told reporters after the match at Allianz Arena. "After speaking with the doctors, the best thing was for him to stay in Madrid. He stayed back and is training there. It was a joint decision between the player, medical staff and the coach."
Bale, who has won four Champions League titles since joining Madrid from Tottenham in 2013, appears to be out of favour at the Spanish club after Zidane said last week he was "very close to leaving".
Zidane's Real are yet to win a game in normal time in pre-season, but the Frenchman says their performance on Tuesday was an improvement.
"Today we have already played better. We have to improve ourselves. I will keep saying the same. Of course I am not happy about the defeat, but we have improved in all aspects, and that's positive. Of course we know that we still have to improve."
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