Gareth Bale on Real Madrid, Jose Mourinho and why he’s investing in women’s sports

We are several days into the World Cup and Gareth Bale, now retired and aged 36, has stopped by The Athletic’s office in Manhattan. Afterwards, he will head across the Hudson River to MetLife Stadium, where he will see Kylian Mbappe’s France open their campaign with a 3-1 victory over Senegal.As the stars come out to play across North America, does any part of Bale, one of the greats of his generation, miss playing the game?

“No, not really,” he says. “I always knew there was going to be a beginning and an end, and I’ve always prepared for the end. I didn’t want to just keep playing for the sake of playing.”

Bale retired aged 33, having emerged at Southampton, dazzled at Tottenham Hotspur, won five Champions League trophies at Real Madrid and lifted the MLS Cup during a brief stint at Los Angeles FC. He also carried Wales to the semi-final of Euro 2016 and his final act as a player was to appear for his country at the World Cup in Qatar in 2022.After retirement, he says he stepped back from the sport for a couple of years, barely watching football at all after dedicating his life to it for decades.

He occasionally has a kickabout with friends, but says tournaments at local golf clubs keep the competitive spirit burning. But he still has his views, whether on Jose Mourinho’s return to Madrid, or football’s evolution from a “basketball game” to a “chess game”.“I had my time,” he says.

“And to get to that point, you go through a lot to get there.“It had been from the age of nine, in terms of a professional approach, and that can really take its toll, especially with the pressures. It was nice to take a step back and reset.

Now I am coming back into watching it a bit more, my son (Axel) is a Real Madrid and Tottenham fan. It’s nice to enjoy it with him and not have a little bit of resentment towards it, which you can have towards the end of your career when you’re feeling a bit run down.”Now, Bale is entering a new phase of life.

He is accompanied by John Shulman, founde