Gareth Bale’s moments that stole the world’s attention

DBasia.news – Gareth Bale was once a player who was able to equalize the level of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The Welsh player has indeed stolen the world’s attention.

Bale is without a doubt one of the best of his generation. The light is only slightly obscured due to the dominance of Messi and Ronaldo.

Even though Bale is one of the footballers with complete ammunition. In addition to having an ideal body posture and excellent physique, he also has speed and ball skills that are above average.

It’s no wonder that Madrid dared to break the transfer record to hijack Bale from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer of 2013. Los Blancos signed him for 91 million euros or higher than Cristiano Ronaldo.

Unfortunately, Bale’s career has had its ups and downs in Madrid. His potential was not explored to the fullest which made him fail to break the domination of Ronaldo and Messi.

Even so, Bale has stolen the world’s attention several times. Here are five of those moments:

1. The Hat-trick against Inter Milan

Bale is considered one of the best young players of his generation. However, this status seems to have just been recognized after scoring a hat-trick against Inter Milan in the 2010-2011 Champions League group phase.

In the match that took place at the Giuseppe Meazza, Tottenham had to be defeated by Inter with a score of 3-4. But Bale was able to ravage the defending champion’s defense.

Two of the three goals scored by Bale were created through charming individual actions. Taking advantage of his speed, he broke through Inter’s defense to make Javier Zanetti and Maicon look like amateur players.

Thanks to this hat-trick, Bale has attracted big clubs. Before Madrid, Manchester United came first to wanting him.

2. Solo Run goal against Manchester United

In the 2012-2013 Premier League, which was his last season with Tottenham, Bale scored a beautiful goal against Manchester United. Again he did a solo run by relying on his speed.

Bale dribbled from the middle of the field into Manchester United’s penalty box. Rio Ferdinand, who tried to catch up, was unable to do much.

Interestingly, Bale finished with his right foot, which incidentally was not his best foot. Even though it wasn’t too hard, the ball flowed into the corner of the goal beyond the reach of David De Gea.

This goal is proof of Bale’s maturity as a footballer. It also makes Manchester United increasingly eager to have him.

3. Race with Marc Bartra

In his inaugural season of strengthening Madrid, Bale became the decisive factor for his team’s victory in the Copa del Rey final. Interestingly, he scored one of the goals that really deserves to be remembered.

Receiving the ball on the left side, Bale then pushed it forward. This was done to get past Marc Bartra’s escort.

After pushing the ball forward, Bale sprinted to get it back. However, he was sent flying off the field as Bartra blocked his direction of running.

Interestingly, Bale then continued to run back into the field to chase the ball. Even though he lost in pace and position, he was able to overtake Bartra to gain control of the ball and score from close range.

The goal immediately became the talk of the world. No one expected that Bale would still be able to show impressive speed in the final minutes when his stamina had decreased.

4. Bringing Wales to the semifinals of the 2016 European Cup

Wales was a debutant team when they competed in the 2016 European Cup. However, The Dragons successfully made it to the semifinals.

This success could not be separated from Bale’s role. The player collected a total of three goals in the tournament.

Two of these goals came from beautiful free kicks against Slovakia and England. Unfortunately, Wales’ journey stopped at the hands of Portugal who finally became champions.

5. An overhead goal in the Champions League Final

One of the most beautiful goals Bale ever scored came in the 2018 Champions League final. An unexpected overhead kick helped Madrid beat Liverpool.

The bicycle kick goal is one of the most difficult to score. Moreover, it happened in a prestigious match like the Champions League final.

Interestingly, Bale is not a player who is known to perform acrobatic actions like so. He also has a tall stature that makes it more challenging to do somersaults.

At that moment too, the bait from Marcelo did not spoil Bale to do an overhead kick. But an acrobatic move with the right timing, the ball was kicked and dived sharply into Liverpool’s goal.