Saint, Galactico, Welsh hero: The evolution of Wales captain Gareth Bale
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Trawl through the BBC Wales Today archives and you might find a
16-year-old Gareth Bale leaving his parents' house in Cardiff and being driven
to Southampton for a training session.
Long before making the man bun his signature look, the
fresh-faced Bale is sporting an Inbetweeners quiff as he sits in the back of
the car, discussing his future in the game with a croaky adolescent voice which
is still some way from breaking.
Seventeen years on - and five Champions League titles, two major
international tournaments and a vast array of individual accolades later - Bale
is set to become the first man to captain Wales at a World Cup since 1958.
By now, the 33-year-old is a modern great; his country's all-time leading scorer in men's football and a globally recognised figure who has shone on the grandest stages in the club game.
This is the story of how Bale came to this point, delving into five key stages in the evolution of a football icon.
Bale celebrates his first senior goal, a free-kick for
Southampton at Derby in 2006
Not that Wales need
reminding. By this stage Bale is already his country's then-youngest senior
international having appeared as a substitute against Trinidad and Tobago in
May 2006, two months before his 17th birthday.
Bale then breaks another record in October, becoming Wales'
youngest goalscorer with another curling free-kick - fast-becoming a trademark
- to offer fans at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium a ray of hope during an
otherwise demoralising 5-1 thrashing by Slovakia.
It is striking how similar the three goals are: all measured,
meticulously lifted over the wall and curling from left to right.
"Gareth is a special one," says George Burley,
Southampton's manager at the time. "He has got attributes that top players
haven't, like his quality of free-kicks, which is like David Beckham."
A decade later Bale would spearhead Wales' epic journey to the
Euro 2016 semi-finals thanks in part to yet more free-kick goals - but struck
with a new style.
Gone was the Beckham-esque curl and control and in its place was
the power, dip and vicious swerve that the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and
Didier Drogba had popularised.
Asked during Euro 2016 why he had abandoned his original
approach, Bale simply shrugged and said he found it "boring".
Ten years apart, the changes to his free-kick technique demonstrated how Bale could transform his game over the course of a stellar career; a player of rare - and metamorphosing - quality.
From Spurs outcast to Champions League menace
It is a scene which has by now acquired near mythical status in
Champions League lore.
Tottenham are 4-0 down at Inter Milan in 2010 when a 21-year-old
Bale announces to the world his spectacular conversion from left-back to
marauding winger.
Still wearing number three on his back, Bale's first goal is
essentially a one-man counter-attack, bursting clear of Inter's defenders and
into the penalty area before drilling a left-footed finish into the far bottom
corner.
The second is nearly identical, again beating the great Javier
Zanetti on the outside before whipping in with his left foot, and then the
third is a first-time effort rifled low into the same corner.
The hat-trick was in vain as Spurs lost 4-3 but Bale was
arguably even better against the same opponents at White Hart Lane two weeks
later as he terrorised Brazilian right-back Maicon and created two goals in a
rousing 3-1 win.
Bale (here taking on Inter's Maicon) scored 55 goals in 203
appearances during his first stint with Spurs
It was some statement from
a player whose difficult start at the club had even led the manager at the
time, Harry Redknapp, to wonder if he was cursed.
Tottenham had seen off competition from clubs such as Manchester
United to sign Bale in 2007 but he initially struggled with injuries and a
statistical quirk that showed he had failed to win a Premier League game over
the course of two years and 24 fixtures.
Redknapp admitted that losing record had made him reluctant to
select Bale - who was reportedly close to leaving Spurs - but the turnaround
was stunning.
The performances against Inter would become a template for Bale,
who combined his blistering pace and direct running with an ability to score
with long-range thunderbolts.
It was a potent mix which made Bale unplayable at times. He was
voted PFA Players' Player of the Year in 2011 and again two years later, this
time alongside the PFA Young Player of the Year and Football Writers'
Association Player of the Year awards.
Having conquered the Premier League and dazzled in Europe, Bale was ready for the next stage of his journey.
Ascending to Galactico status - for club and country
Real Madrid made Bale the world's most expensive footballer when
they paid Tottenham £85.3m to sign him in 2013.
If his otherworldly feats at Spurs had given Bale a swagger,
becoming a Galactico imbued him with an air of invincibility.
That was evident when he returned home to play for Wales, even
in the kind of friendly match some of his club colleagues may have snubbed.
Iceland visited Cardiff City Stadium in March 2014 and, as Wales
led 2-1 with 20 minutes left, Bale picked up possession deep in his own half
near the right touchline.
He was momentarily forced off the pitch by an attempted foul
from Solvi Ottesen but stayed on his feet, surged forward into the penalty
area, cut inside on to his left foot and fired into the bottom corner.
"I just asked him for an autograph and a photo," Chris
Coleman, Wales' then-manager, joked after the game. "He's one of the best
I've seen. An unbelievable player."
Bale was making a habit of
embarrassing opponents and, as if to prove he could do the same to anyone, a
month later he scored with a mirror image in one of football's most storied
fixtures.
Real faced arch rivals Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final and
were drawing 1-1 with five minutes left when Bale again received the ball
inside his own half, this time on the left.
Barcelona defender Marc Bartra tried desperately to drag him
down but Bale shrugged him off and, despite again being briefly forced off the
field, he motored into the box and poked the ball past goalkeeper Jose Pinto to
spark ecstatic celebrations.
The goal earned Bale his first trophy with Real and, one month
on, he had his second as he scored in the Champions League final victory over
Atletico Madrid.
As Bale and his team-mates returned to Madrid to celebrate with
a trophy presentation at a sold-out Bernabeu, the Welshman was in his element.
He had finished his first season with 22 goals and would follow that with 18 in his second campaign - but there was turbulence ahead.
Jeered in Madrid, loved in Wales
Bale won five Champions League and three La Liga titles - as
well as several other domestic and international cups - during his nine years
with Real Madrid.
During the second half of that period, however, his relationship
with the club became strained as injuries affected his form, while the Spanish
media and Real's fans were unforgiving in their criticism.
Even as he was pushed to the periphery, Bale could still conjure
flashes of genius at critical moments, such as the outrageous overhead kick he
scored after coming on as a substitute in the 2018 Champions League final win
over Liverpool.
Yet it was still clear he was unhappy. In an interview on the
pitch afterwards, Bale said he was already contemplating a future away from
Madrid.
Bale scored twice against Liverpool in the 2018 Champions
League final, including a stunning overhead kick
It would take another four years before he
would leave Real permanently and, although Bale ignored the jeers of his own
club's fans to continue playing at the Bernabeu, his opportunities to return
home and play for Wales became a soothing antidote to the hostility he faced in
Spain.
At this stage, Bale had already established
himself as a Welsh icon, but this particular period brought him closer to his
country and its supporters.
Wales fans already loved Bale for all he had
achieved, most notably his pivotal role in helping the team qualify for Euro
2016 - their first major tournament for 58 years - and then the inspirational
performances he produced on their momentous run to the semi-finals in France.
When he was confronted with such a fraught
situation in Madrid, however, it was clear that Bale needed Wales as much as
this footballing nation needed its talisman.
Wales fans followed events in Spain and felt
increasingly protective of a player they idolised, one they felt was being
treated unfairly at his club.
Bale felt that love and was not afraid to show where his truest loyalties lay.
On the eve of a Euro 2020 qualifier in
Azerbaijan in November 2019, having endured the latest round of criticism from
Spanish media, he said: "I definitely have a bit more excitement playing
for Wales."
That irritated Real's former striker and
director of football, Predrag Mijatovic, who claimed Bale prioritised Wales -
and even his interest in golf - over his club side.
That prompted one Wales fan to print a flag,
which he displayed at a match against Hungary just days later, reading:
"Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order." After Wales beat Hungary to
seal qualification for Euro 2020, Bale was handed the banner and was pictured holding
it alongside his team-mates.
That was effectively the end for Bale and Real
Madrid. Not that it affected the man himself, whose commitment to his country
was not up for debate, and it only enhanced his legend among Wales fans.
The episode heralded another chapter in Bale's
development: the unapologetic national figurehead.
