' Gareth Bale Injured '

Looks like it's a calf injury he was subbed after 30 minutes... Hope it's nothing too serious.

He said this 50mins ago

Great win at home to kick off our #UCL campaign, gutted to go off but hopefully nothing too serious

Benitez forced to wait on Bale calf injury

Rafael Benitez delivered injury updates on Gareth Bale, Raphael Varane and Sergio Ramos after Real Madrid's win over Shakhtar Donetsk.
Real Madrid coach Rafael Benitez will need to wait for a proper assessment of the calf injury sustained by Gareth Bale against Shakhtar Donetsk, but offered positive news on Raphael Varane and Sergio Ramos.
Bale went down clutching his left calf inside half an hour of Tuesday's 4-0 win at the Santiago Bernabeu before Karim Benzema and a Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick ensured maximum points.
Varane was taken off at the interval while Ramos suffered a shoulder knock in the challenge that earned Taras Stepanenko his second yellow card.
"Bale has had a spasm in his calf," Benitez explained following his first European outing as Madrid coach.
"We'll have to wait a few days to know the extent of the injury. He had a similar problem last year so we've got to be a bit more careful."
Madrid face Granada on Saturday before further La Liga clashes with Athletic Bilbao and Malaga, with Benitez hopeful Varane and Ramos will be able to feature.
"The Ramos and Varane injuries are just knocks, Gareth is the only one that is a bit more negative in terms of the time out," added Benitez.
"We'll have to wait and talk with the doctors to see what happens.
"It was a difficult game as they have talented and dangerous players. This was far from easy, but we have real power up front, we created many chances and we didn't concede any goals.
"The negative thing was the three injuries."

Rafael Benitez has revealed that Gareth Bale sustained a calf spasm in Real Madrid's 4-0 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a superb hat-trick with Karim Benzema also on the scoresheet as the Spanish side secured a comfortable victory to open their European campaign.

Bale was withdrawn in the first half, however, after sustaining an injury – along with Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane – and Benitez issued an update on the former Tottenham man after the game.

“It was a spasm in the calf, we will wait a day or two,” he told reporters.

“I'm more optimistic about [Sergio] Ramos and [Raphael] Varane, who only suffered knocks. But we must also wait. Bale's problem is similar to an injury he had last year."

Benitez insists he is unworried by the injury to Bale, however, and maintains that Mateo Kovacic may not come in for the 26-year-old purely because he replaced him on the night.

"[Kovacic] slotted in there because the full-backs were getting forward a lot and he plays inside and he was able to give us control of the ball and space," he added.

"If Bale doesn't start, it's open to anyone. Today [Kovacic] played due to the characteristics of the opponents but in future, Jese, Cheryshev or Lucas Vazquez could play."