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Everything Is in Place for Gareth Bale to Have Monster Season at Real Madrid
- Updated: August 16, 2016
Real Madrid have every reason to be heading into the 2016/17 La Liga season with optimism, even without having significantly upgraded their playing squad during the summer transfer window.
Despite plenty of rumours surfacing about potential targets over the past few months, Alvaro Morata remains the only major incoming addition, and Zinedine Zidane will be tasked with overtaking Real and fending off Atletico Madrid with more or less the same squad as last term—but that won’t be a huge cause for concern for the boss.
Real finished just one point behind the Catalan title-winners last term after a fine end to the campaign, while they also won the UEFA Champions League against their city rivals. The hope now will be that more time training the players in his own manner will allow Zidane to make the necessary improvements to end Real’s long wait for a league title.
Gareth Bale has begun to play even more of a key role in Real’s XI, and the former Tottenham Hotspur winger looks well placed to not just improve his game, but be a pillar in Real’s chase for honours.
Success and centre stage
Last season could hardly have ended any better for Bale. After a difficult first half of the season in which he was criticised by some for being chosen by Rafa Benitez as the central attacking midfielder—as if it was something the Welshman himself had instigated—and suffering injuries on international duty, he managed to rediscover his best form at a critical time.
With Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema both suffering injuries in the title run-in, it was left to Bale to lead from the front as Real attempted to chase down Atleti and Barca…and he did so in style.
It wasn’t just a matter of filling a role on the right of the attack for Bale. Instead, he was the driving force in many of the toughest fixtures Real faced, dragging the team to victory with his powerful runs through the centre, his willingness to force opponents backward and his ability to hit the back of the net.
Again and again, Bale came up trumps for Real when a single dropped point would have ended their hopes and given rise to inevitable headlines about overreliance on Ronaldo.
Against Rayo Vallecano, he was the catalyst for a comeback win, while a stubborn and difficult Real Sociedad had to be worn down with relentless intent from Bale, and Bale alone at times, for a late victory to be earned.
That Real didn’t …
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