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HOT OR NOT: Bale's indifference during the celebrations is absolutely marvellous

  /  autty

It's Hot or Not time again as Sportsmail's Riath Al-Samarrai reveals what's been making him feel warm and what's been leaving him cold this week.

HOT

GARETH BALE

Watch the videos of Real Madrid’s title celebrations. Watch them tossing Zinedine Zidane in the air. Now watch Bale. His indifference is absolutely marvellous. There is no winner in a scenario that has him growing old on the bench, and he has contributed to that, but equally Zidane’s treatment of him has been abysmal.

DOM SIBLEY

Reassuringly dull and shamelessly effective. England’s opener left 71 deliveries well alone on Thursday. That is 71 times he played the game by not playing the game, the kind of attrition made for an empty ground. He won’t make for good footage but as a foundation stone he’s robust.

GARETH AINSWORTH

It’s nice when good things happen to good people. There seem to be plenty of those at Wycombe, that under-resourced band of misfits who have reached the Championship six years after staying in League Two on goal difference. Has any boss done more with less this season than Ainsworth?

NOT

IFAB

In a week when Manchester City celebrated a £9million fine, the International Football Association Board extended the five substitutes rule through next season. Two disconnected points united by a sense that big clubs are about to get bigger and the weak… well, who cares about them anyway? Bravo, everyone.

JOFRA ARCHER

He left the bubble. It could have had expensive repercussions and, for him, missing the second Test might not be the end of the matter. But let’s pause for breath. If the hope in these situations is that you shake sense into the wayward, then that has been achieved. He was slaughtered for it and a longer sanction isn’t necessary.

UK SPORT

It was a while ago, granted, and it broke no rules. But to learn of British Olympians signing waivers to trial a ketones supplement ahead of London 2012 creates an uneasy feeling about our elite programmes. There is a temptation over here to view certain other countries in black and white terms; Britain itself has spent plenty of time in the grey.