Bale returns as a star

Gareth Bale hasn’t had it easy at Real Madrid but he returns to England in rich form, writes Adam Bate…

In the week following Riyad Mahrez’s PFA Player of the Year award, the 2013 winner returns to these shores to face Premier League opposition for the first time since his departure from Tottenham.

Gareth Bale will be in the Real Madrid team for their Champions League semi-final against Manchester City – and he is in fine form too.

Such are the extraordinary demands at Madrid that, despite scoring the winner in a Champions League final, his three seasons with the club have not been without their difficulties. And yet, Bale has directly contributed to 28 La Liga goals this season – 18 goals and 10 assists. That’s the same total as Mahrez in the Premier League and he’s managed it in a fraction of the game time.

Indeed, Bale’s goals alone have come at a rate of one every 87 minutes this season. That’s better than both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Rivals for his role in the side such as James Rodriguez and Isco have proven nowhere near as effective despite having received some very public backing.

Bale had begun the season under fire, a legacy of last season’s struggles. He was jeered by Real fans in a friendly against Galatasaray and a Marca poll put him out of the starting line-up on the eve of the campaign. A similar vote in AS saw him scraping into the team but only ahead of Karim Benzema and with a …

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