Gareth Bale surprisingly names former Manchester City star as the toughest right-back he ever faced

Gareth Bale has named former Manchester City defender Micah Richards as the toughest right-back he has faced in his career.

The Welsh icon came up against some of the world's best defenders during his stints at Tottenham Hotspur and Real Madrid. But Richards is the one who stood out for him.

Bale came up against Richards five times — four times for Tottenham Hotspur and once for Southampton — and recorded one goal and no assists. His team lost thrice and won just once in those games.

Asked to name the toughest right-back he faced during his playing days, Bale told the Times, via GOAL:

"The hardest right back I played against was Micah Richards. I was a bit quicker but he was an athlete, so strong and holding. I’d knock it round him but he just [leans across and] goes ‘no!"

On his day, Richards was one of the best in the business. He boasted impressive speed and was hard to outmuscle in duels. He spent 14 years on the Cityzens' books before joining Aston Villa in 2015.

Richards retired in 2019 and currently works as a pundit. He is regarded as one of Manchester City's finest defenders in the 21st century — the club he made 246 appearances for and won two Premier League titles with. Bale (33), meanwhile, called time on his career in January 2023.

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Schweinsteiger partly blames Manchester City manager for Germany's decline

Pep Guardiola has won every major trophy as a manager at the club level. And on top of that, his teams have looked awfully good while winning the biggest trophies in the world.

Guardiola likes his teams to keep the ball, recycle possession and pass it around to frustrate opponents and eventually, slice them open. He mastered these tactics during his time at Barcelona and tried to replicate them in Germany when he became Bayern Munich's manager in 2013.

However, that eventually played a role in the German national team's decline. Or so Bastian Schweinsteiger thinks. The Bayern legend told TalkSPORT, via OutlookIndia:

"When Pep Guardiola joined Bayern Munich, when he came to the country, everyone believed we have to play this kind of football, like short passes and everything. We were kind of losing our values. I think most of the other countries were looking at Germany as a fighter, we can run until the end and everything.

"The strengths got lost through the last seven, eight years. We forgot about that and were more focused on playing the ball nicely to each other. That’s one of the reasons."

Germany failed to progress from the group stages in the last two FIFA World Cups and crashed out of the 2020 UEFA Euros in the Round of 16.