Real Madrid defeated Borussia Dortmund in decisive fashion in the Champions League. Here are three things we learned from the match.
Bale’s back! If he stays fit, that is.
Gareth Bale has been taking a lot of heat lately from pundits and fans alike. Bale’s recurrent injury issues have damaged his reputation, and his inability to ever fully recover last season made many wonder whether his best times at Madrid had come to a finish.
Even I, a total Gareth Bale fanboy and all around apologist for the Welsh Dragon, began to wonder whether we would ever see the kind of Gareth Bale that took away Marc Bartra’s dignity in the Copa Del Rey or scored the go-ahead goal in the Champions League final.
But if the match against Dortmund is any indication, we may be starting to see the good old Gareth Bale again. Bale was ferocious this match. His intelligent movement and one-touch finish off of Carvajal’s cross for his goal was a thing of absolute beauty. And he is starting to form a very dangerous partnership with Cristiano Ronaldo playing two up top in the absence of Karim Benzema.
Unfortunately, it’s not entirely clear whether Bale is truly done with his niggling injury issues. Bale was subbed off late into the match with what appeared to be cramps. It didn’t seem like he was injured, but Bale has earned enough of a reputation for being injured that you can’t blame me for being scared about it at this point.
Lets pray that Bale only has cramps. Can't get injured just when his body was able to process a full workload again.
— Xav Salazar (@XavsFutbol) September 26, 2017
Let’s hope Bale can carry on without any serious injury problems. He struggled last season in finding his form, so it would be terrible for him to take a step backwards now that he seems to be finding it again.