Bale leaves Real after soap opera

Gareth Bale achieved his last major goal in football a few weeks ago: He led his small home country of Wales to their first World Cup participation since 1958. And now it is clear where the soon to be 33-year-old will end his club career.

After the end of his contract with Real Madrid, the club Getafe from the Madrid suburbs had been discussed as the next stop in his career, and a return to his hometown of Cardiff to the local English second division club also seemed plausible. But the winner is: Los Angeles FC. There Bale meets the charismatic Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini. And honestly, where better to end Bale’s dazzling career than in Hollywood?

Bale was more on the golf greens than the football field in Madrid

The genre has long been established anyway: his adventures and escapades result in a formidable entertainment comedy. Bale had been a part-time professional for years, seen more on the golf greens than the football field in the Madrid area. But he regularly turned into this superstar for Wales, for which his club paid him a top salary. “Wales. Golf. Madrid. In this order »: Real’s former sports director Predrag Mijatovic ranted in a radio interview about Bale’s priorities.

The rule of three immediately gained cult status – not least because of Bale himself, who showed up with a Welsh flag on which the saying was written. And especially when he was doing nothing, Bale seemed to mock Real. He didn’t even show up for what was supposed to be his last game at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu after nine years. The reason: back pain would have made it impossible to leave the house.

In all, he tied his long hair back for just 290 minutes of play for Real last season – the same number of minutes he’d played for Wales since March alone. In the national team, goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey praised the attacker, who seemed so autistic in Madrid, as a “fantastic leader”. It’s just a shame that Bale won’t pass on his know-how as a coach one day. “He wants to play golf every day of his life.”

Disguised transfer fee – so as not to upset Cristiano Ronaldo

For several summers in a row, Real tried unsuccessfully to get rid of Bale from his “home office”, as the sports newspaper “As” called it. The professional sat out all the trials and tribulations stoically. He’s known little else since joining from Tottenham Hotspur for €101m in 2013. The curiosities began with the transfer at that time.

Real concealed the true transfer fee so as not to upset ancestral hero Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been considered the most expensive player in the world since his €94m move from Manchester United to Real in 2009. Tottenham have been signed with a non-disclosure clause to the official version of 91million. Only the “Football Leaks” documented later without a doubt: Bale was the first 100 million euro man in world football.

However, he did not even achieve the consistency of Cristiano Ronaldo in phases – but it was not a flop at first. With Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, he formed the “BBC” forward line that won the Champions League four times. Bale scored iconic goals like his solo in the 2014 Spanish Cup final against FC Barcelona when he swerved over the edge of the pitch. Or with his fabulous overhead kick in the 2018 Champions League final against Liverpool.

Strained relationship with coach Zinedine Zidane

At that time, Real President Florentino Pérez in particular still believed in Bale so much that he even sold Ronaldo. As early as 2017, Pérez missed the opportunity to sign young Kylian Mbappé because he did not want to give him the Welshman’s post. Among other things, because of these decisions, the coach Zinedine Zidane resigned a few days after the Champions League triumph in 2018 – Bale had previously criticized him publicly.

Relations between the two didn’t recover either, with Zidane soon returning for a second coaching spell. But there was always hype: Bale’s agent Jonathan Barnett was outraged by whistles from the fans (“You should kiss his feet”), then Bale left the stadium in the middle of a team game, or he watched a golf tournament before kick-off his mobile phone.

But most of the time he was just injured – until his miraculous resurrection for Wales’ next international. 101 million, nine years of wages, Mbappé, Ronaldo, Zidane: Real Madrid paid a high price for Bale. Probably no other player has ever fooled the royal club in such a way.

But with the peacemaker Carlo Ancelotti on the coaching bench and the happy ending with the renewed Champions League title, Real Madrid recently had the grandezza not to follow Bale. There was a friendly farewell communiqué and no catcalls as Bale re-entered the Bernabéu to celebrate the European Cup title. Or maybe most fans were just too stunned to see him.