Gareth Bale on Luis Enrique subbing off Dembélé in the 66th minute against Bayern Munich:
“When I saw that moment of Luis Enrique subbing off Ousmane Dembélé in the 66th minute of a massive Champions League night, I was shocked but the lad’s reaction shocked me further….he simply urges his teammates to keep up the pressure, walks straight over, shakes his manager’s hand, no words, no face, no drama, and sits down like it’s the most normal thing in the world.
That’s why he’s absolutely flying under Enrique right now. He’s bought into the system completely — tracks back, presses, puts the team first, perfect display of humility, no ego. No wonder he’s Ballon d’Or standard and thriving.
At Real Madrid it was exactly the same: no player was ever bigger than the club, no matter how many goals you’d scored, how many titles you’d won, or what the fans chanted. You accepted the gaffer’s decision because the badge came first.
These days too many lads have this entitlement mentality, I am pretty sure I can make a list naming names of these players — sub them off and they sulk, they storm off, they make it about themselves. Football’s changed, but the ones who still get it, like Dembélé under Enrique, are the ones who end up winning everything”