Second Best
BALE DANGER OF BEING NEW GEORGE
HAVING just pocketed his fifth Champions League winner’s medal, life must feel sweet for Gareth Bale.
And, on the face of it, there is little left for him to prove following the sort of stellar career other footballers can only dream about.
He’s won 16 major trophies in almost a decade with Real Madrid, the biggest club in the world, as well as leading Wales to the semi-finals of a Euros during an international career spanning 102 caps.
No one has won more European Cups than him and being the most successful export in British football has made him a rich man indeed.
Heck, he’s even managed to leave the Spanish capital on a high following last weekend’s win over Liverpool in Paris, despite enduring a turbulent final season in Madrid which left him an outcast.
There are murals in his honour around the streets of Cardiff, where he was born, to celebrate the brightest star Wales has ever had.
But there is still one big itch left for Bale to scratch – and if he can manage it tonight then there will be a statue of him commissioned to stand alongside all the artwork.
That’s because, despite all his success and achievements, Bale still has the biggest game of his career to come at the ripe old age of 32 – in the shape of Wales’ World Cup play-off showdown with Ukraine.
And the stakes have never been higher for him.
No Welsh dragon breathes fire with more passion than he does.
He loves pulling on that red shirt more than golf, which is saying something, and he’s carried the team to the brink of making history. But miss out on a place at
Qatar 2022 and his dream of playing in the best show on turf will be doused once and for all.
If Robert Page’s side fall at the final hurdle, Bale will become the modern-day George Best.
One of the greatest players of his generation never to have shared his gifts on the greatest stage of all.
Failure is not an option for
Bale, who has put all his eggs in this one basket, to such an extent that he became some sort of curious pariah back in Madrid.
The
Press in
Spain grew to hate him and he was even booed one last time by Real fans during the Champions League Final.
His critics never forgave him for once donning the infamous ‘Wales, Golf, Madrid’ flag during a trip back to his homeland.
But there is no need for him to apologise for being so patriotic.
A place at a World Cup remains priceless. If his dream doesn’t come true then the tournament will be worse off without him.
Bale has carried the Welsh team because he’s that good, and his two goals in the previous round against Austria got them to this point.
Now he has to dig deep again because the rest of the world is against him as he bids to scale the biggest high of all or face the heartbreak of his most crushing low.