Bale's Legendary Goal Story

Detailed story of an unforgettable sprint.

Historical context: Bale's first season at Real Madrid, difficulties in La Liga, played in the Cup final without Ronaldo

The final of the Spanish Cup-2013/14 was for "Real" the second in a row, a year ago, the team lost to Atlético Madrid. Match with Barça scheduled for April 16, it was hot in La Liga: after 33 rounds of Atlético Madrid; led with 82 points, Real Madrid caught up with 79, Barça – with 78. In the championship "Real" twice https://1win-azerbaycan.com/ lost to Barça: 1:2 at Camp Nou and 3:4 at the Santiago Bernabeu. Now there was a battle on the neutral Mestalla.

"Real" Cristiano Ronaldo lost due to knee and hip injuries. At Barça goalkeeper Victor Valdes broke his crosses, and there were questions to the center of defense: Gerard Pique missed the match due to a hip injury, 23-year-old Marc Bartra was allowed to play only an hour before the match, fearing for his hamstring. Bartra later said that he did not train during the week and even on the morning of the match, and in the last minutes he did not have enough strength to accelerate. Due to pain in the hamstring, "Bars" lost and Jordi Alba – it happened right at half time in the final.

Bale's goal details. Barça coach admired that Gareth accelerated so much even in the 85th minute

Still, without Marc Bartra, there would be no greatness. He unwittingly did everything in his power to make the moment go down in history.

Hockey-style hit Bale, got his elbow under the ribs, but did not think that the football touchline was different from the hockey protective glass. Bale did not impress and just went to overtake along a more complex arcuate trajectory.

If Bale had swayed by that moment, Bartra himself would have flown away from him.

Mark, in addition, did not react to Bale's bad touch after Gareth had already won the race. An ideal defender could probably orient himself, use his last strength to fly into a tackle, somehow stop Gareth, at least at the cost of a foul near the penalty area. But here Bale put the case and went on to the gate. With Bartra hanging on his shoulders – so even more epic. He would almost certainly have fallen off sooner if Bale had handled the ball better.