Bale dismisses talk of Ronaldo rift

Real Madrid star Gareth Bale has laughed off suggestions he does not get on with Cristiano Ronaldo.

Reports have suggested that the two have had a frosty relationship since the Welshman arrived in Spain in 2013, with Ronaldo apparently angered by the fact Madrid paid a world-record fee to sign Bale from Tottenham.

Ronaldo recently fuelled that speculation when he stated he does not need to be friends with his team-mates in order to perform.

But, speaking ahead of Madrid's Champions League semi-final first leg against Manchester City on Tuesday, Bale addressed the issue.

"He speaks English which helped me when I first came here," Bale told The Times. "We also have that link from the Premier League. We get on really well. The press make a lot of things that maybe we don't but we get on fine.

"We've never had a problem. I've never had an argument with him. He's a very, very passionate person on the pitch, everyone knows that. He's very determined. People sometimes seem to take that the wrong way. We haven't had a problem.

"You definitely have to have teamwork. No one can ever do anything on their own. But you need a little bit of selfishness because that’s what you need as a front man.

"We've found a good balance. We're doing well, scoring a lot of goals, and hopefully we can peak now towards the end of the season and get some trophies."

Bale put in a man-of-the-match performance in Ronaldo's absence to help Real Madrid to a 3-2 win over Rayo Vallecano at the weekend.

Madrid came from 2-0 down to pick up three points that keep their La Liga title hopes alive, with Bale scoring twice.