Gareth Bale at Real Madrid: injuries, iconic goals and legacy

Wasted Potential

The aim here is not to find individuals or moments to blame for when it comes to Bale not reaching his true potential. When he joined Real Madrid, the ceiling was sky high. Just two seasons later when everything was going well, Zinedine Zidane’s appointment as manager changed a lot for the Welshman.

Real Madrid won but Bale played a minimal part, never becoming an integral part of Zidane’s historic team. The three seasons that followed were glorious for the trophy cabinet but not individually for the winger.

Despite a departure being expected in the summer of 2018, Bale stayed as Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo moved on. Yet everything from there continued downhill. His relationship with the fans did not remain pleasant either, with boos and whistles a common sight. The Welshman’s stock continued to fall with each injury and poor performance regardless of manager.

As reported by Marca, Bale told US golf podcast The Erik Anders Lang Show on getting booed by the Real Madrid fans:

"“I’ve had 80,000 people in a stadium whistle at me because I haven’t played well. I’ve had it a few times! It’s not nice and it doesn’t do your confidence any good either.”"

He further added on the matter:

"“You would expect that if you’re not having a good time on the pitch, your fans would get behind you and try to help you do better because it’ll make them happy. “But it seems that they do the opposite. They whistle you, which consequentially makes you feel worse, you lose your confidence, you play worse and then that makes them even more upset.”"

In 2020, Tottenham Hotspur took Bale back on loan after he’d completely fallen out of plans at Real Madrid, with no permanent transfer on offer due to his high wage demands. The “Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that Order” incident – where he posed with a flag that read those words while on international duty – caused huge uproar and pretty much ended any last shred of hope of him resurrecting his Real Madrid career. The Spanish media have since been even more unrelenting as well.

Just last summer, Bale left Real Madrid as a 5-time Champions League winner on the end of yet another historic season in which he did not feature much. Following six moderately eventful months in the MLS, his decision to retire fails to give proper closure to a career that boasted so much promise but fell short of expectations.

The story of Bale’s downfall is a terribly sad one for any Madridista who wanted to see him succeed at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Remember his time at the club by the iconic goals and match-winning performances and not by the negatives and controversies, lest it stains his legacy as an icon who was never meant to be.