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Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo celebrate. (Photo by Helios de la Rubia / Real Madrid via Getty Images)
Kevin Palmer
In the summer of 2013, when Real Madrid broke the transfer world record they set to lure Ronaldo from Manchester United for one To seal the deal to sign Bale from Tottenham, the newcomer to town had the vision of working with Ronaldo to form a fantasy dream team.
However, this was quickly abolished when the King of the Bernabeu made it clear that he would not surrender his star Real Madrid status to the Welshman who had invaded his kingdom.
Ronaldo’s discomfort with Bale’s invasion of his territory was not reflected by the freshman’s breathtaking winner against Barcelona in the Copa del Rey in his first season at the club.
Then came Bale’s decisive goal in the Champions League final against Atletico Madrid to give the club a tenth win in Europe’s elite competition with Bale’s legacy as a legend in Real Madrid folklore seemingly secured.
Throw in his sensational overhead kick goal against Liverpool in the 2018 Champions League final and his four Champions League victories Real Madrid and you should have a footballer worthy of a statue in his honor in front of their soon-to-be-rebuilt Bernabeu home.
But while Ronaldo and Bale are put to the test this summer at the Euro 2020 finals, they have The career paths of former teammates / rivals developed in very different directions.
In a week in which the legendary Ronaldo set another record for becoming the top scorer in the history of the European Championship finals, Bale’s career followed a more conventional one Gone.
Greatness has rarely been maintained at the levels Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have achieved in the past 15 years, with Bale’s glorious golden pavement in the middle is a distant memory in his career after three years of inexplicable decline.
The brilliance of the 31-year-old was instantly visible for the club and country in the last three or four years, but it was only fleeting.
Brilliant Goals, incredible bursts of magic, and profitable appearances have become rare in recent years, with Bale’s apparent eagerness to accept the joke that he’s more interested in playing golf than football these days, a testament to his dwindling passion for the game.
Even though he was only 31 years old, there was strong evidence that he was tempted to retire after the Euro 2020 finals ended this summer.But that idea was likely for his agent Jonathan Barnett never acceptable as his extraordinary contract for 600,000 euros per week with Real Madrid is still running for another year.
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The player himself doesn’t seem keen to rebuild a tarnished reputation of the past few years, and yet Bale deserves better, according to Ashley Williams (below).
Williams was Wales captain than him led his nation to the Euro 2016 semi-finals and he thinks his former teammate deserves to be recognized as one of the greats of the game rather than a player who has lost his passion for the game.
« I think « Gareth is talked about as one of the greatest British players of all time, » Williams said in an exclusive interview with Sunday World.
« Only based on what he won at Real Madrid and his contribution to them Success in the Champions League final by scoring some important goals, it has to be said that there are few who have achieved more.
« Maybe things haven’t gone so well for him in recent years, but that is for most Footballers normal, even for players who have reached Gareth’s level.
« Only Ronaldo and Messi managed to reach that elite level and stay there year after year, and what we’ve seen from Gareth is for normal for a player his age.
« He set the bar so high. He did incredible things every week when he was at Tottenham last season, but that would never happen at this point in his career. «
» He had to figure out where he fitted in at Tottenham and where he ended up I feel like he did that. «
Scourged as an outsider who consistently refused to attend club events with his teammates and has long been dismissed by Real Madrid fans as yesterday’s man, Bale’s former Spurs Teammate Jermaine Jenas (below) this quickly decorated cast.
« I remember talking to Gaz at Spurs when we had a Christmas party and he often said he was leaving, » he recalls.
« No problem, no pressure. Maybe he enjoys playing golf and spending time with his family, but when did that become a crime?
» I got on really well with Gaz and one of the things I do loved about him was that he was his own Man was. When we took to the streets as a team, he would often sign out and stay at home with his family, but I’ve « never had a problem with that.
» We should talk about Bale’s achievements, not what others believe that he did something wrong. The goals in the Champions League final, the titles he brought to Real Madrid. «
» In my opinion, the way the Real Madrid fans treated Gareth is a shame. He won everything at Real Madrid. Your fans should kiss his feet. «
It would be the ultimate repost to his critics, and perhaps the story will reflect Bale more nicely than it now appears.
Perhaps Bale’s greatest crime wasn’t his failure to commit attending the team’s birthday parties, or his eagerness to hit the golf course at every opportunity.
Instead, his mistake was likely to be wanting to face Ronaldo in an almost impossible-to-win competition.
Greatness can Measured on multiple scales using any of the sports giants of all time as a yardstick, harsh judgment can be inevitable.
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