Winner of five Champions League
Welsh striker Gareth Bale, winner of five Champions League titles with Real Madrid, announced on Monday the «immediate» end of his sporting career at the age of 33 «after careful and thoughtful consideration». SOURCE: (EUROPA PRESS)
Announced his retirement
«After careful and thoughtful consideration, I am announcing my immediate retirement from club and international soccer. I feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to fulfill my dream in the sport I love. It has truly given me some of the best moments of my life,» Bale said in a statement.
Immense gratitude
The Briton claimed to have «immense pride and immense gratitude» for his career at club level from his «first touch at Southampton to his last with Los Angeles», and that «playing and captaining» his country on 111 occasions «has truly been a dream come true».
Indebted for assistance
«I want to show my gratitude to all those who have played their part along this journey. I feel indebted to many people for helping me change my life and shape my career in a way I could never have dreamed of when I started at the age of nine,» added Bale.
Thanks to his family
The Welshman also did not forget his family because «without their dedication in those early days, without such a solid foundation,» he would not be «writing this statement right now.» «Thank you for putting me on this path and for your unwavering support,» he said.
Love and support
«My wife and children, their love and support have sustained me, right by my side through all the ups and downs and keeping me grounded along the way. They inspire me to be better and make me proud,» he remarked.
Time of change
«So, I move with anticipation to the next stage of my life. A time of change and transition, an opportunity for a new adventure,» said the British footballer, whose decision comes after playing with his national team at the World Cup in Qatar, where Wales failed to advance from the group stage and where he only scored one goal, a penalty against the United States.
Joined Real Madrid in 2013
After starting his professional career at Southampton, Bale signed for Tottenham where he began to shine, curiously as a winger, and attracted the attention of ‘big’ European clubs. Real Madrid bet on him and brought him in the summer of 2013, after a tough negotiation with the London side and for about one hundred million euros.
Zidane and Ancelotti
The Madrid team gave him a six-year contract, but in 2016 extended it until 2022, although the real impact of the Cardiff player was until the 2017-2018 campaign because from then on, between his physical problems and how little he counted for Zinedine Zidane and Carlo Ancelotti, he hardly played, with a one-year loan to Tottenham in between.
His memorable bicycle kick
In total, in his eight seasons at Real Madrid, in addition to the five Champions League, in which he starred in the 2013-2014 with a goal in extra time in the final against Atlético de Madrid and in the 2017-2018, with his brace against Liverpool and his memorable bicycle kick for the 2-1.
Won three Ligas in Spain
He won three Spanish League titles, three Spanish Super Cups, one Copa del Rey, also with a decisive goal, four Club World Cups and three European Super Cups.
Part of the ‘BBC’
He scored a total of 106 goals and, together with Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, formed the famous ‘BBC’ that shone in his early years as a Madrid player.
His most difficult decision
In addition, the striker also wrote a separate statement for «the Welsh family», to whom he confessed that his decision to leave international soccer was «by far the most difficult» of his playing career.
Proud of the Wales jersey
«How do I describe what it means to me to be part of this country and this team? «How do I articulate the impact it has had on my life? How do I put into words what I felt every time I put on that Wales jersey? My answer is that I couldn’t do any of those things simply in words,» he remarked.
The fortune of being Welsh
«My journey on the international stage is one that has changed not only my life but who I am. The fortune of being Welsh and being selected to play and captain Wales has given me something unparalleled to anything I have ever experienced. I am honored to have been able to play a part in the history of this incredible country, to have felt the support and passion of the red wall, and to have been together in unexpected and amazing places,» he added.
