By Tim Stannard

Zidane returns to Madrid to face Bale who took to the fairways rather than a football pitch 

Technically speaking, if Gareth Bale was feeling too stressed to travel to Germany to play in this week's Audi Cup, then a round of golf was certainly a fair-way to relax. However, unlike the Welshman's well-honed swing, Bale's timing was a little off. 

Indeed, a story from El Confidencial that Bale was hitting the course during the team's Tuesday defeat to Tottenham has putt the player in a rough situation with Zinedine Zidane who might have a few words to say to his player on Thursday. If the pair were talking, that is, rather than nestled in their respective bunkers. "We'll see when we get back," was the ominous comment from Coach Zizou.  

Today sees a countdown clock being set at the Santiago Bernabeu reflecting one week - one week until the Premier League transfer window closes and the only realistic exit for Bale, who remains an albatross around Real Madrid's neck going into the new season. The only previous get-out strategy ended on Wednesday with the Chinese Super League ending its transfer window. 

Over the next week, Real Madrid and a Premier League club will need to iron out a deal for an under-par performer with a huge salary, but is still worth a hefty transfer fee according to Madrid president, Florentino Perez, who turned green at the thought of a giveaway to China at the weekend once a little birdie told him that Madrid would receive nothing in return. 

Seven days to close a huge gulf between Bale and the club and ensure the 30-year-old can make tee-time in England next season. 

Neymar stuck in neutral with PSG 

Time to move on to another top draw soccer player in a bit of a pickle to say the least - Neymar. 

The Brazilian's present sees Ney-Ney with PSG in China preparing for the new season which gets underway for the club against Rennes on Saturday in the Trophee des Champions (live on beIN SPORTS of course).

But the future of the forward remains murky to say the least. L'Equipe is writing that PSG want a deal done for the footballer before the restart of Ligue 1 next weekend but demand some $200 million in cash from Barcelona, cash that the Camp Nou club does not have. 

Sport is reporting that PSG are also working on another strategy which will see a pact with Neymar where the footballer stays in an amicable fashion for one more season before moving on next summer with the French club's blessing. It is similar to the deal Sir Alex Ferguson did to keep Cristiano Ronaldo before his eventual transfer to Real Madrid in 2009. 

The Sports Burst live show will be all over trying to predict Neymar's future with our Gabrielle Amado and Andres Cordero. Just head to our beIN SPORTS USA Facebook page at 12PM ET / 9AM PT. 

Gabigol leads Flamengo to victory as Joao Felix shines in Orlando 

Gabigol lifted up to his tremendous moniker on Wednesday night in the Copa Libertadores. 

The Brazilian forward sparked a heck of a fightback for Flamengo to score two goals in the opening eighteen minutes of the second leg of Gremio's last 16 clash against Emelec to take the tie to penalties where a relieved prevailed Flamengo prevailed (with the help of PK soothsayer Diego Alves between the pipes). 

Elsewhere Internacional and Boca Juniors took care of business to move into the quarterfinals but it was bad news for Viggo Mortensen, whose beloved San Lorenzo side lost out to Cerro Porteno. 

The final match-up of the round sees Gremio and their wondrous winger, Everton, taking a 2-0 lead into a second leg against Libertad. That game is live, live, live on beIN SPORTS at 8:30PM ET / 5:30PM PT. 

A little further north in our continental land-mass and Wednesday night saw Atletico Madrid handing out a soccer lesson in Orlando to those plucky upstarts of the the MLS All-Stars. 

However, the league's finest still performed considerably better than Real Madrid in a recent friendly against the Rojiblancos with just the 3-0 defeat in another sparkling performance from Joao Felix.