With the removal of Gal·les of the World Cupwhere it did not perform at the level expected, Gareth Bale (Cardiff, 1989) was signing his epitaph. High-level football was a long way off for the striker, who punched one of the cameras he was working on in the match against England in frustration. It was the last feature of a player who grew up and exploded as a great left-back at Tottehnam and ended up as one of the best wingers in the world, giving Real Madrid afternoons of glory.
Along the way, dissolution. The “Wales, GolfMadrid, in that order» with which he got out of the first row, where he accumulated up to 19 titles wearing the shirt of Real Madrid, including five Champions League. The summer of 2020 brought an end to a white spell that stretched to the point of exhaustion, but where Gareth left great postcards. Like the Chilean goal that allowed the whites to win the 2018 Champions League.
This goal perfectly exemplifies the Bale’s explosive talent. He equalized against Liverpool shortly after taking the field, taking advantage of Marcelo’s cross. A work born of the genius incorrectness that has always shown one shy idol, who barely learned the language in all his years as a Real Madrid player.
Bale he tried to take refuge in the MLS, being part of Los Angeles FC to extend his career towards the World Cup with which he closed his career. It ended up being the culmination of a successful career, also in terms of selections, despite the outcome of Qatar (the first World Cup since 1958). He achieved something unthinkable for his country’s football, reaching the semi-finals of Euro 2016.
17 elite courses
“After careful and thoughtful consideration, I announce my immediate retirement from club and international football. I am incredibly lucky to have fulfilled my dream: to have practiced the sport I love. It has given me some of the best moments of my life. It’s been 17 seasons at the highest level that will be impossible to repeat, no matter what the next chapter offers me”, explained Bale in one of the two published statements. The first, with the focus on club football. The second, directed to Wales.
In the note, the former player reviewed his career, from his first touch with Southampton to his last with LAFC, passing through «playing and captaining my country 111 times». In the first communication, Bale says he feels indebted “to many people” for helping him change his life and shape a career that is now ending.
A first part of his farewell where the proper names are those of his parents and sister, “because without their dedication in the early days I would not be writing this”, in addition to his wife and children, “because their love and support I have been supported by: you inspire me to be better and I’m proud of that». The first letter ends with his signature and the following message: “Now I move on to the next stage of my life. It’s a time of change and transition, an opportunity for a new adventure.”
Nothing like Wales
But the end of Bale’s career, from which it was speculated that he would retire at Cardiff City, has been marked by the performance with his selection. That’s why the extreme has dedicated a farewell to Wales, much more emotional and direct. “How do I describe what it means to me to be part of this country and team? How do I articulate the impact it has had on my life?” asks a player for whom wearing the Dragons shirt changed his life and his personality.
Bale says he feels lucky to “be Welsh and international, one thing incomparable with everything I’ve experienced”, which is why he’s grateful to have felt “the support and passion of the red wall and to have been together in unexpected and surprising places”. Gareth, who always felt more integrated in the world that his nation gave him, assures that he will not move away from “the team that lives in me and runs through my veins, after all, the dragon in my shirt is all I need.’
