Gareth Bale at Real Madrid: injuries, iconic goals and legacy
By Sahel Kazi
Iconic Moments in a Real Madrid shirt
Bale’s Real Madrid career had no shortage of match-winning performances. His time with Tottenham Hotspur was proof of his reputation as a dead-ball specialist, and he renewed that reputation multiple times during his first two seasons in the Spanish capital.
Bale struck some unstoppable knuckleballs against Real Betis, Elche and later Galatasaray in the 2013-14 season, probably his best as a Galactico.
Even from open play, no goalkeeper was safe when Bale hit top speed with the ball on a counter-attack, perhaps the most well-remembered being the time he went off the pitch and came back, absolutely zooming past a helpless Marc Bartra in the process, to score on the counter-attack and win the Copa del Rey final against Barcelona in his debut campaign.
Xabi Alonso had high praise for Bale’s moment of brilliance. As reported by SPORTbible, the Spaniard said:
"“I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it. “It looked like the ball was going out and he was under pressure – he ran off the pitch to keep it in. It was just amazing.”"
Just a month later, the header to put Real Madrid ahead in extra-time for the fabled La Decima can never not be mentioned in this conversation. He continued to score some outrageous goals even during his toughest periods as a Madridista, even taking his country to the UEFA EURO semi-final in 2016.
In the 17/18 season he scored some goals in vintage Bale fashion against Deportivo Alaves and Celta Vigo in the league. Arguably the highlight of his professional career came in the last game of that campaign though, as his acrobatic overhead kick against Liverpool put Real Madrid ahead in yet another Champions League final, four years on from Lisbon. Just minutes later, his effort from range found its way past Loris Karius to cement his legacy as one of the greatest to ever do it for the club just on the basis of how many important games he had won them, and the manner in which he had won them.