WATCH: Gareth Bale’s 5 best goals for Real Madrid

Gareth Bale has confirmed his departure from the Spanish capital following the expiration of his contract after an eight-year illustrious career with Real Madrid that included over 250 appearances, 100 goals, and a preposterous haul of 16 trophies including five Champions League crowns and three La Liga titles.

Bale’s first five seasons at the club — when he was scoring around 15 league goals each campaign and consistently proving decisive in knockout competitions — will go down in history as the hail-mary days of Real Madrid’s goated “BBC” attacking trio of Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, and Cristiano Ronaldo. 

We all know his final two years with the club were a joke, but Madridistas whistling Bale was always their own problem, not Bale’s. And who, when looking back on the restart of the 2019-20 season in mid-June with matches every single day for over a month straight in front of empty stadiums to fulfill broadcast contracts, can argue that Bale wasn’t applying exactly the right sort of attitude towards it all?

This was the absolute worst of times, but Bale brought a bit of levity into our daily existences by building his own binoculars:

Five years from now, all these little details will fade and the only lasting memories will be testaments to his greatness — the jaw-dropping goals played on repeat. So, lets take a look at his best goals for Real Madrid during his stay there.

Gareth Bale’s top 5 goals:

5. Gareth Bale vs Legia Warsaw (UCL, 11/02/2016) 

Gareth Bale scored this worldie volley from a flicked pass from Cristiano Ronaldo. Bale was positioned just about perfectly and hit the ball just below the center. Thus, we got this world class goal from Gareth Bale, fresh off signing his final contract with Real in 2016 which saw him earn approximately 428,000 dollars per week for 6 years.

4. Gareth Bale vs Schalke (UCL, 26/02/2014)

In the 2013-14 season, Bale’s first in Madrid, Los Blancos came up against Schalke in the Champions League Round of 16. The first leg was at Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen and Real embarrased the 2010 UCL semi finalists and stormed to a 6-1 away win with Bale, Benzema and Ronaldo each scoring a brace in the game.

Bale scored Real’s second goal of the evening with this mesmerizing solo dribble from the top of the area that snatched the souls of two Schalke defenders, bizarrely reminiscent of a certain Argentine.

3. Gareth Bale vs. Elche (La Liga, 22/02/2014)  

During Bale’s final season at Tottenham in 2012-13, when he scored 21 goals in 33 Premier League appearances, it felt like he was dropping the hammer from outside the area on a weekly basis. He was Harry Kane before Harry Kane. So when he unleashed a few long-range torpedoes with Real, it was always a pleasant surprise. This crossbar down effort from 30 yards out was a memorable piece of violence that Bale was capable of doing with the ball at his feet.

2. Gareth Bale vs Barcelona (Copa Del Ray final, 16/05/2014) 

The strike against Liverpool could easily go here — UCL final, everyone loves a bicycle kick, etc. etc. — but this entire sequence of Bale shifting through the gears and churning through Tito Vilanova’s technical area and then the defense like an unbridled stallion while Marc Bartra heaves and hos and learns every single physical limitation of his entire being, is one of El Clásico’s greatest ever moments.

Also, don’t forget it was an 85th-minute winner for Real Madrid in the 2014 Copa del Rey Final.

1. Gareth Bale vs Liverpool (UCL, 05/26/2018) 

Need I say more?

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