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The name of Welsh superstar Gareth Bale is back on the lips of the entire football world right now. The 31-year old forward, who has been with Real Madrid since the summer of 2013, is reported to be edging closer to a stunning return to Tottenham Hotspur, with a deal potentially happening this week.
Bale broke the world transfer fee record when he moved to the Bernabeu seven years ago, with Los Blancos parting with around £85m to secure his signature. Since arriving in Spain, Bale has won numerous trophies, including two La Liga titles and four Champions Leagues.
During his time in the Premier League, the Welshman won the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award on two occasions with Spurs.
With a return to North London looking more and more likely, here is a look at the five most iconic moments of Bale’s career thus far, in chronological order.
#1 Destroying Maicon in the Champions League
Bale joined Tottenham in a deal from Southampton in the summer of 2007, but it took the Welshman a while to settle into his new surroundings. In fact, he was not on the winning side in his first 24 Premier League games for Spurs.
By the 2009-10 season though, that all changed. Bale finally won a Premier League game with Spurs and quickly established himself as one of their key players. And when the campaign came to an end, he was able to help Tottenham to finish in fourth place – securing Champions League football for the first time in the club’s history.
Tottenham’s maiden Champions League campaign ended at the hands of Real Madrid in the quarter-finals. However, it will always be remembered for Bale’s incredible performances in the group stage against holders Inter Milan.
The match between the two at the San Siro saw Inter take a 4-0 lead after just 35 minutes following the sending off of Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes in the eighth minute. But Bale was undeterred, and in the second half, he took the match by the scruff of the neck.
Inter’s right-back Maicon – then widely recognised as the best in the world in his position – simply couldn’t cope with the Welshman’s pace and physicality. He was tormented as Bale scored a dramatic hat-trick, almost triggering an unbelievable comeback.
His performance in the return match at White Hart Lane was even better, as once again, Maicon was unable to lay a glove on him. That game saw Bale set up goals for Peter Crouch and Roman Pavlyuchenko as Spurs ran out 3-1 winners.
If ever there was a moment that turned Bale from a highly rated prospect into a genuine star on the world stage, it was these two games.
#2 Scoring his wonder goal in the 2014 Copa del Rey final
There was a lot of pressure on Bale following his huge £85m move to Real Madrid in the summer of 2013. And for a short time, it looked like the Welshman would be unable to live up to the price tag.
Despite scoring on his Real debut, Bale spent a great deal of the first half of the 2013-14 campaign sidelined with injuries.
When he returned to full fitness though, things began to click. Although Real missed out on winning La Liga, Bale scored 15 goals in 27 league games, including his first hat-trick against Real Valladolid. But it was in the Copa del Rey final where his true potential was fully unleashed.
Faced with their bitter rivals Barcelona, the game was tied at 1-1 going into the final 10 minutes and extra-time appeared to be looming. But when a Barca attack was snuffed out with five minutes remaining, Bale stepped up to the plate.
Real broke away from their own box, and the ball was fed to the Welshman around the halfway line. From there, he pinged the ball past Barca defender Marc Bartra, and then sprinted past him, even leaving the pitch at one point. It was as if Bartra was running through treacle.
Suddenly finding himself inside Barca’s penalty area, Bale cut inside and coolly slotted the ball past Jose Manuel Pinto to win Real the match and the trophy. It was Bale’s first major honour with Los Blancos, and the goal still stands as one of his very best.
#3 Winning his first Champions League
A month after his incredible goal in the Copa del Rey final, Bale lined up with Real looking to win the biggest prize of them all – the 2013-14 Champions League. Making matters more complicated though, Los Blancos were faced with their city rivals Atletico Madrid in the final.
Lining up with Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema as part of a three-man strike force, Bale actually had a quiet game for the most part. Atletico took the lead in the 36th minute via a Diego Godin header. And as time ticked away, it looked like Real would fall short of their 10th victory in the famous competition.
However, the game was turned on its head in injury time. A header from Sergio Ramos sent the game into extra-time, denying Atletico a victory with basically no time remaining. And in the added period, it was Bale who once again stepped forward to save the day.
A run from Angel Di Maria saw the Argentine make his way into the box. But when his shot was saved by Thibaut Courtois, Bale was on hand to prod the rebound home to edge Real in front. And from there, their city rivals collapsed, conceding two more goals in the final two minutes to hand Los Blancos a 4-1 victory.
Not only had the Welshman gotten his hands on Europe's biggest prize in his first season at the Bernabeu, but he'd also scored what was the decisive goal in the Champions League final against his club's city rivals. Not bad for a debut season.
#4 Leading Wales to the semi-finals of Euro 2016
Wales fans had to wait a long time to see their team play in a major international tournament. By the time Euro 2016 came around, it'd been 58 years since the Dragons had appeared on the world stage. But in Bale, Chris Coleman's side could now call upon a genuinely world-class player.
Bale's seven goals in qualifying helped Wales cement a spot at the tournament in France, where they were drawn in a group with Russia, Slovakia and bitter rivals England. Nobody really expected them to go that far, but in the end they stunned everyone with their performances.
Bale scored three goals in the group stage, helping his side to finish top – setting up another all-British match with Northern Ireland in the Round of 16. And in a tight match, it was Bale's cross that led directly to Gareth McAuley's own goal to send Wales through to the quarter-finals.
The Dragons weren't finished there. Despite finding themselves 1-0 down to Belgium in the first half of their quarter-final tie, the Real Madrid star then helped his side to achieve a remarkable comeback. Wales won the match 1-3 to make the semi-finals.
Wales were defeated at that stage by eventual champions Portugal, but left France with their heads held high. They'd become the smallest-ever nation to make the semi-finals of the European Championship. And they had their talisman Bale to thank for a lot of their success.
#5 His incredible overhead kick in the 2018 Champions League final
By the time the 2018 Champions League final came around, Bale had been at Real Madrid for five seasons, and had won multiple trophies, including two La Liga titles and three Champions Leagues. However, he'd also been struggling for some time with injuries, and his future at the Bernabeu had been brought into question.
The Welshman started the final against Liverpool in Kyiv on the bench, as Real boss Zinedine Zidane preferred an attacking trio of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Isco. But with the game tied at 1-1, Bale was sent on just after the 60-minute mark in an attempt to turn things around.
Nobody could've seen quite how much of an impact that he would have. Just two minutes after his arrival on the pitch, Bale met a cross from Marcelo with a ludicrous bicycle kick that sent the ball flying into the net, giving Reds keeper Loris Karius absolutely no chance.
It was not only one of the best goals of Bale's career, but it was probably one of the greatest goals in Champions League history, too.
Twenty minutes later, the Welshman sealed the game for Real, scoring a long-range effort that Karius somehow managed to deflect into his own net. Once again, despite Los Blancos sporting a number of superstars in their team, it was Bale who'd stepped up to really help his side to win the match.
The game was probably Bale's final high point as a Real Madrid player – and he'll be hoping to resurrect his career with his potential move this summer.
