Wales captain Gareth Bale is keeping an eye on developments in Ukraine.
Until further notice, the Welsh will not know the opponent and the date of the match that will resolve one of the last three European places in the World Cup.
With Scotland-Ukraine postponed for obvious reasons, Bale can feel more than proud of his leadership in the national team.
His team is one step away from repeating the success of 1958, the last time they played in the World Cup.
It is no secret to anyone that in Real Madrid his fervent commitment to Wales is viewed with suspicion or anger.
In the last four years, Bale has played 80.6% of the 31 official matches for his team.
He has intervened in 2,715 of the 2,790 total minutes (93.6%).
In the same period, he has participated in 47.1% of Real Madrid's matches in the Spanish League, with a presence of 3,149 minutes (29.6%) out of a total of 10,260 minutes.
On loan to Tottenham Hotspurs in the summer of 2020, his percentage figures improved on those he has offered at Madrid.
Bale played 920 minutes in his 20 Premier League games (51.1%).
He was a substitute on 10 occasions and in none of them did he enter the field.
In the Europa League he appeared as a starter in the 10 games played by Tottenham, averaging 56.4 minutes on the pitch.
On the last day of the Spanish championship, Madrid faced Barça.
Benzema did not enter the call due to injury.
Gareth Bale, neither.
Barça won 0-4 and the fans wondered about the absence of a specific striker in the team.
Few people remembered Gareth Bale, the first player whose transfer exceeded 100 million.
He was a starter in the first three league games and, what a coincidence, he took Benzema's place in the Villarreal field.
267 minutes, not a minute more.
He has been out due to injury on 19 occasions.
He did not appear five of the six times he appeared on the squad list.
Real Madrid and Liverpool settled the European Cup final in kyiv in May 2018. The Welsh striker, a substitute that night, came on in the second half, scored an impressive goal and minutes after the victory was dispatched bluntly.
He demanded ownership at the same time that Cristiano declared that he wanted to leave.
A few days later, Zidane left the club.
Bale became the figurehead of Real Madrid.
Far from becoming the flag of a team that had lost Cristiano Ronaldo's ton of goals, Gareth Bale began to diminish his contribution.
To the evidence of his injuries was added the rapid deterioration of his relations with the club, which until then assured him a strong protection against any threat of criticism.
On Bale, a cyclothymic player, with prodigious conditions, unwilling to express them with a minimum of regularity, he has weighed a trail of injuries and his manifest dissatisfaction.
In 2019, he intended to play in China.
He didn't get it.
In 2020, he returned to Tottenham, where his relationship with Mourinho soon broke down, although in the London team he far exceeded his participation in Real Madrid.
With one of the biggest chips in European football, Bale ends his contract in June.
It's been a long time since his name has been invoked, except when he goes to the Wales team, where his massive presence contrasts with the non-existent role he plays at Real Madrid.
Not even when he is needed, he is used.
Either he is not there, or he is not expected.
Meanwhile, in the Welsh team, Gareth Bale does not lose a minute.
More than a phenomenon, it is a myth with boots.
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