Gareth Bale: A Look Back at his Career

Gareth Bale announced his retirement from football yesterday at the age of just 33 after a 16 year career. It's time that we look back on his career as a whole.

Bale started his career at Southampton where he made his debut aged 16 in a game against Millwall in 2006. A month later he was called up into the Wales squad for the very first time and later made his debut in their 2-1 win over Trinidad and Tobago where he became the youngest ever player to play for the national team.

At the start of the 2006/07 season he scored his first professional goal via a free kick against Derby. He ended that campaign with 5 goals as Southampton finished 6th and lost in the play offs at the end of that season. During that season he also scored his first goal for Wales during a Euro 2008 qualifying match against Slovakia in October of 2006.

After impressing in the Championship for Southampton, Bale later earned himself a move to the Premier League as he joined Tottenham for £5 million. After making his debut in a 1-0 defeat to Man United at Old Trafford, Bale scored on his home debut against Fulham the following weekend in a 3-3 draw at White Hart Lane. He then scored another the following weekend against Arsenal in his first North London Derby where Spurs went on to lose 3-1.

He took him a while to win a game with Spurs and it wasn't until the 2009/10 season where he achieved that when Spurs beat Burnley 5-0 at White Hart Lane. Spurs ended that season in 4th earning them a place in the Champions League for the following season.

The 2010/11 season was when Bale's career really took off as he announced himself on the European and world stage with a hat trick against then reigning European champions Inter Milan in the Champions League. He then put in an incredible display against the same opponents at White Hart Lane where Spurs wen on to win 3-1. He ended that season with 11 goals in all competitions and also won the PFA Player of the Year award.

He carried on producing for the next two seasons scoring 12 goals in all competitions in 2011/12 and a staggering 26 in 2012/13. He scored many wonderful goals that season including mazy runs against Man United and Norwich and some well hit strikes from distance against West Ham, Southampton and Sunderland. Despite his best efforts that season Spurs missed out on a top four finish as they finished 5th. But Bale himself became the first player since Cristiano Ronaldo in 2007 to win both the PFA Player and Young Player of the Year awards. He also won the Football Writer's Player of the Year award.

In the summer of 2013 he became the world's most expensive footballer as he joined Real Madrid for a then record transfer fee of £83 million. He scored on his debut for Real in a 2-2 draw with Villarreal and later netted his first hat trick for the club two months later in a 4-0 win over Real Valladolid.

He went on to achieve plenty of success with Real in winning 5 Champions Leagues, 3 La Liga titles, 3 Super Cups, 3 Club World Cup's and the Copa del Rey. He scored in two Champions League finals against Atletico Madrid in 2014 and Liverpool in 2018 where he netted twice with one of his goals being an incredible bicycle kick. He netted 181 times during his time at Real with his goal against Barcelona in the 2014 Copa del Rey final being arguably the best goal he ever scored as he sped past then Barcelona defender Marc Bartra before slotting home the winning goal.

Despite all the success he achieved, he was at times criticized by the Real Madrid fans and particularly towards the end of his time there. He had a number of injury problems during that time and some people were even suggesting that he was spending more time playing Golf. But overall his time at Real was success because of the trophies he won and the goals he scored. Especially the crucial ones in cup finals.

For Wales he will surely go down as their greatest ever player as he's their all time record goal scorer with 41 goals and is also their record caps holder with 111. He loved playing for his country whenever he put on the red shirt as he gave it his all in almost every game he played for them. His goals and other contributions played a huge role in Wales qualifying for three major tournaments in Euro 2016, Euro 2020 and the 2022 World Cup.

He scored 3 times during Euro 2016 as Wales surprised everyone to reach the semi finals where they were beaten by eventual winners Portugal. This tournament was their first appearance at a major final since the 1958 World Cup.

He scored Wales' only goal at the 2022 World Cup in a 1-1 draw with the USA in their first match at a World Cup finals in 64 years. But Wales ended up going out at the group stages after defeats from their other games against Iran and England.

In terms of his career as a whole, Gareth Bale will go down as the best British players to play abroad and one of the best British players of all time because of the trophies he won during his time at Real Madrid and the amount and quality of goals he scored for both club and country. He's had a brilliant career and is someone who deserves more respect due to the player he's been and the trophies he has won.