Three footballers retired last Monday at the age of 33. On the one hand, Gareth, an overwhelming player, a physical marvel capable of being decisive as a winger and lethal as an attacker, destined for glory because he knew how to appear in big moments. On the other, Frank, a brittle-muscled athlete, a shy and lonely guy, unable to find an explanation for so many injuries, depressed even when he was discharged for fear of relapse, like the clumsy kid who didn’t care about the taste of ice cream that he had just ordered: “Overall, I’m going to drop it.” And, finally, Bale retired, a former active player, easygoing and apparently undisciplined, a mixture of the exuberant Gareth and the timorous Frank, whose passion was far from the team that paid his salary (Real Madrid): in the green fields Wales -for football- or any other place in the world where there were at least nine holes.
Gareth was the 21-year-old beast that was revealed to the world in 2010: who was that Tottenham winger capable of breaking Inter Milan pairs as if they weren’t Italian defenders, but butter figurines… and scoring three goals? The boy from Cardiff left more than 100 plays in London for the celebration (72 goals and 35 assists) in less than 250 games, which raised his price to the extra 100 million euros that Madrid paid to win the first Welshman of his story.
In white, already corseted as an attacker and giving an acronym to the glossy ‘BBC’ along with Benzema and Cristiano, Gareth was a legend from the 80-meter race against destiny and Barça in the Copa del Rey and grew days later making the 2 -1 in the Champions League final against Atlético… until being immense on May 26, 2018 in kyiv, when Madrid was fighting for the European Cup against Liverpool and he came on in the 61st minute for Isco with 1-1 in the score: a poster kick and a long shot (the co-author of the goal was signed by goalkeeper Karius) sealed the double of his life. Nothing is explainable in the glorious modern history of the merengue box without Gareth.
the reverse
Frank, however, was the guy on the gurney. He landed at Real Madrid without a blemish, just some lower back discomfort in his prime at Tottenham… but his name appeared 32 times in the white medical reports during nine seasons. Everything began to go wrong on 15/16, when he verified that the quality of his fibers was not as exquisite as he suspected: two muscle injuries and a broken calf for 15 games out and 73 days in the dry dock. .
Then it was the hip, the ankle, more fibrillar tears, the other ankle, the calf… Until his departure from the Bernabéu, in June of last year (with the ‘therapeutic’ hiatus on his return to London on 20/21) there were 615 days absent and 130 games lost, taking into account that he played a total of 258: Frank missed one out of every three games with Madrid.
Finally, Bale was the impertinent one who, smiling, held that banner (‘Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order’) with which he revealed his priorities in November 2019, when he was already considered an amortized ‘former player’ who, however He gave the sensation of clinging to a succulent contract like a corrupt leader to his chair.
While the team played and the club paid him, his discomfort did not prevent him from playing golf or traveling with his team (and even getting injured with it). Neither she nor she showed up the day Real Madrid was given the 21/22 LaLiga trophy. “Back discomfort,” read her last medical report. A sad ending.
