Looking back, Gareth Bale’s first year at Real Madrid was a resounding success. He scored 22 goals and provided 19 assists in 44 matches in 2013/14, won the Copa del Rey, and the Champions League. He lived up to his billing as the most expensive footballer on the planet, but it didn’t always look like he would.
As perhaps was to be expected, when Bale first arrived at Real Madrid from Tottenham Hotspur for a world-record fee of €118 million, he had massive expectations thrust upon him. In a Spanish media environment that was fickle on the best of days, his performances were picked apart like few others in the world of soccer. One day he would be nicknamed “The Cannon” and the next he would be labeled Real Madrid’s worst performer. No matter how many goals or assists he had accumulated, if he didn’t show up when it mattered, people noticed.
So regardless of the fact that Real Madrid as a team struggled to 4 losses and a draw in its first 5 games against Barcelona and Atletico Madrid in 13/14, it was Bale who took home a reputation of underperforming in big games.
All of that changed on April 16, 2014, at the final of the Copa del Rey.
To say that Gareth Bale single-handedly won the 2014 Copa del Rey would be wrong, just as the reputation he received for underperforming in big games prior to then was wrong. His performance did, however, show just how misguided that reputation was.
It also helped catapult Real Madrid to the double. A little over a month after Real Madrid lifted the Copa del Rey, they won the Champions League. In that match Bale again showed that he was capable of producing when it mattered most:
Today Bale continues to enhance his reputation with match-winning performances, and he has a chance to steep himself in Real Madrid legend should he continue to do so in the upcoming 2016 Champions League final, which Real Madrid just qualified for courtesy of a Gareth Bale strike. Two Champions League victories is a stunning accomplishment, and Bale can write his name all over it.
Watch Real Madrid take on Atletico Madrid in a Champions League final rematch on Saturday, May 28th at 2:45 EST on Fox Sports 1.
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