Real Madrid's Gareth Bale was once the world's most expensive footballer. Now he's a grumpy benchwarmer who'd rather play golf than soccer.

Gareth Bale.Getty/Quality Sport Images

• Gareth Bale stood with his arms crossed as his Real Madrid teammates celebrated winning the La Liga title against Villarreal on Thursday night.
• The Telegraph described Bale as being "like a mysterious plus-one at a wedding" during the celebrations.
• His failure to get excited is just the latest example in a long and growing line of poor, or as his former Tottenham teammate Dimitar Berbatov put it, "disrespectful" behaviour.
• Once one of the world's best players, such antics are what he will now be best remembered for at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Real Madrid won its first 34th La Liga title, and its first in three years, on Thursday night beating Villarreal 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The victory, understandably, sparked scenes of euphoria among the Madrid players, who lifted coach Zinedine Zidane into the air and paraded the trophy around their empty stadium.

However notably, there was one player who didn't seem all too excited by the occasion – Gareth Bale.

As his teammates rejoiced, Bale, who turned 31 on the day, stood by awkwardly clapping and crossing his arms. The Welshman also didn't get a single picture with the La Liga trophy.

"Sad to see that he's ended up like this," said one fan on Twitter, while the Telegraph described Bale as being "like a mysterious plus-one at a wedding."

Bale joined Madrid from Tottenham Hotspur for a world record fee of $155 million in 2013.

While his career at the Bernabeu has been fruitful – he's scored 105 goals, won four Champions League titles, and lifted La Liga twice – the Wales international has endured a gradually deteriorating relationship with the club, in particular coach Zinedine Zidane.

"It would be wrong to say their relationship has broken down because in reality it never even began to build up fully," Spanish football expert Guillem Balague told the BBC.

"They understand the profession and life very differently."

As tensions between the pair have increased in recent years, Bale's game time has been dramatically reduced. This season, he's made just 14 starts for Los Blancos, and was almost shipped off to Chinese side Jiangsu Suning in January, though the proposed deal eventually fell through.

With little football to play, Bale's behaviour has also become more outrageous, or as his former Tottenham teammate Dimitar Berbatov put it in an interview with The Mirror: "Disrespectful."

Bale's failure to celebrate winning the title is the latest example in a growing line of poor behaviour, which ultimately he will be remembered for most when he eventually leaves the Spanish capital.

Read on to see a series of examples of Bale's unusual behavior in recent years: