JURY STILL OUT ON BALE
Welshman seems to ‘be an outsider’ despite his landmark 100th Real goal
GARETH Bale struck his landmark 100th Real Madrid goal in Saturday’s 3-1 win at Atletico Madrid but there is a sense that the club’s record signing has been a disappointment in Spain despite a considerable haul of goals and trophies.
Bale’s strike, coming in his 217th appearance for Real, took him into the club’s all-time top 20 scorers, with an impressive ratio of 0.46 goals per game, more prolific than Santiago Bernabeu greats such as Raul Gonzalez and Emilio Butragueno.
He has also lifted 13 trophies since joining from Tottenham Hotspur in 2013 for a then world record fee of €101 million (RM464 million), among them a staggering four Champions League crowns, one La Liga title and a King’s Cup.
But his stock among Real fans and in the public eye is not as high as peers such as Sergio Ramos or Luka Modric due to a constant struggle with injuries and his failure to step into the void vacated by Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure to Juventus.
Bale’s apparent lack of influence in the dressing room, hindered by an inability to speak Spanish despite 5-1/2 years in the nation’s capital, does not help his cause.
Not even decisive displays and goals in the 2014 and 2018 Champions League final triumphs over Atletico Madrid and Liverpool have cemented his place in the hearts of fans.
In an October survey in newspaper Marca, Bale was the player supporters blamed most for their poor start to the season while over 70 per cent of respondents to a poll in daily AS said they would like to see the club sell him.
There is still admiration for the forward’s immense physical qualities and his ability to produce magical moments but there is a widespread feeling that, given his transfer fee and the expectation that he would take the baton from Ronaldo as the team’s galvanising figure, Bale has fallen short.
“We are always measuring Bale for his price, which gave us the fantasy that he was a world star,” said Real and Argentina great Jorge Valdano last year.
“But the last five years do not match up to what Real paid for him. Still, every season he seems to score a contender for goal of the year, and we have to applaud him for that.”
Real coach Santiago Solari praised Bale for seeing off Atletico and said he was in “phenomenal shape,” but the forward is far from certain to start away to Ajax Amsterdam in the Champions League last 16, first-leg tie tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo headed in his 18th league goal this season as Juventus bounced back from last week’s stalemate to soar to an 11point lead in Serie A with a 3-0 win at Sassuolo.
The Serie A champions had been held by Parma last week despite the Portugese forward’s double.
Now they have left secondplaced Napoli trailing after Carlo Ancelotti’s side were held to a goalless draw at Fiorentina on Saturday.