Welsh talisman and Real Madrid legend Gareth Bale ends his playing career

By Andrew Warshaw

January 10 - Once the world's most expensive footballer and a five-time Champions League winner with Real Madrid, Wales captain Gareth Bale has ended his playing career at the age of 33, he announced on Monday.

Bale played a record 111 games for his country, scoring 41 goals, and helped them reach Euros 2016 and 2020 before leading them to their first World Cup in 64 years in Qatar in November.

A humble but humble football superstar who never let success slip away from him, Bale was the most expensive player in the world when he joined Real Madrid in 2013 from Tottenham Hotspur for an estimated fee of 100 million euros.

In his prime he had few peers, producing devastating runs and sublime individual goals with a gifted left foot.

He ended his club career helping Los Angeles FC win the Major League Soccer title last June before deciding to hang up his boots.

A private person off the pitch who rarely made the headlines for the wrong reasons, Bale said his decision to retire from international football was "by far the most difficult of my career".

"My journey on the international stage has changed not only my life, but also who I am," he said in a statement. "The chance to be Welsh and to have been selected to play and captain Wales has given me something incomparable to anything I've been through.

"I am humbled and honored to have been able to play a part in the history of this incredible country, to have felt the support and passion of the Red Wall, and to have been together in unexpected and amazing places ."

Bale started as a left-back for Southampton, moved to Tottenham - where he was revered by fans - in 2007 and had a brief second stint at Spurs in the 2020-21 season when on loan from the Real. Only one player - former Real Madrid star Paco Gento - has won more European Cup/Champions League titles.

“I feel incredibly lucky to have achieved my dream of playing the sport I love. It has truly given me some of the best times of my life,” he said.

"The highest of peaks in 17 seasons, it will be impossible to replicate, no matter what the next chapter has in store for me."

"From my very first contact at Southampton to my last with LAFC and everything in between, has shaped a club career for which I have immense pride and gratitude. I look forward to the next stage of my life. The opportunity for a new adventure."

While Bale has not always agreed with Real's management, the club have nevertheless described him as a 'legend of our club and of world football'.

"Gareth Bale was part of our team in one of the most successful stages in our history and forever represents many of the brightest moments of the past decade," the Spanish club said.

One of those moments was the acrobatic volley in the win over Liverpool in the 2018 Champions League final.

Yet, despite all the accolades, there remains the feeling that his career could have been even more successful and that he retired too soon. He was too often injury-prone while his acrimonious relationship with ex-Real coach Zinedine Zidane led to him being frequently sidelined.

There was no better illustration of this than when Bale, in a rare moment of controversy as he celebrated qualifying for Euro 2020, waved a Welsh flag with the words 'Wales' on it . Golf. Madrid. In this order' written on it.

In a statement, the Welsh FA summed up Bale's contribution to his country.

"The term 'legend' is overused in the modern game, but there are few players more deserving of the accolade than Bale for the crucial role he played in revolutionizing the national team's image in off the pitch and winning on it."

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