Zinedine Zidane: 'Gareth Bale is now 100% fit'

Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane has revealed that Gareth Bale is now back to his peak fitness levels after recovering from a recent injury layoff.

The Wales international missed three months of the campaign after damaging his ankle in Los Blancos' 2-1 win over Sporting Lisbon in November.

Bale was initially expected to be out until the end of March, but he returned to the first team ahead of schedule and scored on his comeback in the 2-0 win over Espanyol last weekend, while also playing 30 minutes in the defeat to Valencia last time out.

Zidane could now hand the former Tottenham Hotspur ace his first league start since November 19 when Madrid face Villarreal at El Madrigal on Sunday.

"He's back at 100%," he is quoted as saying by BBC Sport. "Gareth's been training at full pace with us for a few days now and he's 100% fit."

Bale has eight goals and three assists to his name for Madrid this term and has also scored three times for Wales in their World Cup 2018 qualifying campaign.