The Spanish newspaper Marca has issued a scathing attack on the BBC in reference to a recent article about Gareth Bale, claiming the British broadcaster’s comments were “wholly unfounded and unjust”.
Marca’s comments come in reaction to a BBC column entitled ‘Gareth Bale: The ‘lazy loner’ under fire at Real Madrid’ in which the newspaper is accused of undue criticism of the Welshman in an attempt to undermine the club president, Florentino Pérez.
Marca pulled no punches in its response – entitled Hooligans en la BBC – accusing the broadcaster of “such bloopers as mixing up the Italian and Bulgarian flags at the beginning of the ongoing rugby Six Nations” and that it had “veered off the course that made it a byword for quality journalism throughout the 20th century”.
In the BBC column, Marca is accused of ‘tearing into Bale in a vicious attack, portraying him as a selfish and lazy loner who doesn’t play for the team’.
The newspaper has in recent weeks been critical of Bale, who ended his nine-game drought on Sunday with both goals in Real Madrid’s 2-0 win over Levante, but seemingly took umbrage to the suggestion that it was using the former Tottenham man to pursue its alleged agenda against Pérez.