BENZEMA, BALE & CRISTIANO

As MSN dominated La Liga, so came the BBC in response – not a titanic struggle over breaking news, but Real Madrid’s emphatic answer to Barcelona’s version of the Avengers.

Gareth Bale had actually joined Real Madrid a whole season before Luis Suarez’s Barça arrival in 2014, but there was no pals act in the Spanish capital. ‘ BBC’ was an accidental attack, formed purely after Florentino Perez signed the most exciting forward that Madrid didn’t have. As a result, Ronaldo and Bale were both left to deflect questions over their relationship status throughout their five years together; Football

Leaks even proved that Los Blancos had hidden Bale’s true world- record price tag, to keep the toys in Cristiano’s man- sized pram.

Even on the pitch, the pair’s relationship looked icy cold. Ronaldo and Bale seemed to be in battle to finish each other’s sentences, and 73 Madrid goals in the 2013- 14 season came through either player’s individual brilliance – see Bale’s Copa del Rey- winning sprint around Marc Bartra, or Ronaldo’s drilled free- kick under Bayern Munich’s wall during a 4- 0 dismantling. They didn’t work together, but they did push each other on to impossible excellence.

Between them was Karim Benzema, happy to shy away from the blinding spotlight. “For Cristiano to be in love with another attacking player means he does a lot for Cristiano,” smirked former boss Jose Mourinho. Indeed, the Frenchman grabbed 24 goals in all competitions for himself, but began drifting from his centre- forward spot to create and link up with Angel Di Maria. It might have appeared a creative rebirth, but this was just a new way for Benzema to bully defenders.

It worked. “In terms of trophies, you could argue we’re the best team ever – we’ve won four Champions Leagues in five years,” Bale told FFT when Ronaldo broke up the band and joined Juventus in 2018.

All three scored across those four finals. They may have had their differences, but they each had one major thing in common: the hunger to outscore their opposition… and win titles.