Berna-boost for Madrid as £86m Bale returns to training ahead of Juve and Barca clashes.

Gareth Bale is winning his battle to be fit to play a part in the biggest week of Real Madrid’s season. On Wednesday he trained with his team-mates in the first session after the international break.
Madrid play Malaga on Saturday before facing Juventus on Wednesday in the Champions League and Barcelona the following Saturday in the Nou Camp.
The club have admitted that Bale has a ‘small chronic discal protrusion’ but say the injury is not a slipped disc and will not need an operation.

Back in business: Gareth Bale has returned to training after a back injury

Running man: Bale joins the rest of his Real teammates in training in Madrid

Yesterday, as if to prove the point, he was put through his paces alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and the rest of Carlo Ancelotti’s squad.
Bale has played only 132 minutes so far for his new club, including just one start.
The thigh injury that has ruled him out for most of that time has been put down to a lack of pre-season training.
After two weeks of intensive work with Real fitness coach GIovanni Mauri, the club now believe he can play his part in the next three matches, starting in La Liga on Saturday.

Casting an eye over things: Head coach Carlo Ancelotti watches his players go through their paces

Madrid president Florentino Perez told a Spanish radio station: 'Gareth is calm and ready, waiting to play on Saturday.
'Everyone knows that because he didn't have a good pre-season he suffered from muscle fatigue in the thigh. He is training well and wants to play and show that all this is just something over nothing.
'Bale is fit to play and wants to show that he is fine. All of the doctors have made it clear that a small disc bulge is relatively common in elite footballers.
'Not all athletes have scans, so not all of those who have these disc bulges know they have them. Elite athletes suffer more with the back and can handle it, but this is something normal.
'A big deal has been made out of something normal. The player himself and those around him are concerned because they have contracts and campaigns that this could affect.'

Gol: Bale had made an encouraging start to life with Real, pictured here scoring against Villarreal

Real concern: Bale pulled out of his Madrid home debut with a thigh injury picked up in the warm-up

But as Sportsmail revealed earlier this week, Real are taking no chances with their massive outlay on the world's most expensive player, paying £3.8m a year in insurance premiums to protect their investment.
Given the enormous outlay the Spanish giants made to take Bale to the Bernabeu, Real have ensured they are covered should his career be blighted by injury.

The insurance policy enables them to claim back all of the £86m they paid Spurs, should Bale be forced to retire through injury. Real would also receive compensation, understood to be a seven-figure sum, should he be out for more than a month.