#3 Developed himself for the bigger challenge
When Gareth Bale made his big money, world-record move to Real Madrid, there were doubters and naysayers who said he wouldn’t be ready for the big challenge. Even though he had won two PFA Young Player of the Year awards and the PFA Player of the Year award at Spurs, people felt he would not fit into a system where Cristiano Ronaldo was always going to be top dog.
During his final season at Tottenham, he scored 26 goals in all competitions which secured his move to the Bernabeu.
Following his move to Spain, Bale immediately acclimatised himself to the conditions and built himself to remain fit over a longer season. He ended the 2013-14 season with 22 goals and 16 assists. He also put in fantastic performances in the Copa del Rey final, where he scored a brilliant individual goal that won Madrid the game in the absence of Ronaldo, and the Champions League final – scoring the goal to give Madrid the lead in extra time.
Two seasons later, in the Champions League final, he provided the assist from which Sergio Ramos scored and ended the campaign with 19 goals and 12 assists in all competitions.
