Almost perfect evening for Gareth Bale as he proves worthiness in Real Madrid's win over Borussia Dortmund

Andy West 01:18 27/09/2017
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  • Despite his enviable squad depth and his penchant for repeated heavy doses of squad rotation, Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane still has a first-choice eleven – the Gala XI, as it’s known in Spain – firmly set in stone for big games such as last night’s Champions League trip to Borussia Dortmund.

    Throughout his time in charge, that Gala XI has more or less picked itself, with a couple of modifications along the way, and there were no surprises whatsoever in the team selected by Zidane in Germany.

    There was, however, particular pressure on one player: Gareth Bale.

    The Welshman’s worthiness of inclusion in Zidane’s ‘A team’ has been hotly debated throughout recent weeks, partly due to his own inconsistent form and partly due to the excellent string of performances delivered by rising star Marco Asensio.

    Without doubt, at some stage in the not too distant future Asensio will succeed in forcing himself into the Gala XI, in the same way that Casemiro and Isco have been able to play themselves into Zidane’s favour since he took over.

    The question, though, is exactly how long Bale will be able to hold off the challenge of the next big thing to retain his status as an automatic starter.

    Many fans and pundits believe that time has already arrived but Zidane, as evidenced by his decision to persist with Bale in Dortmund, does not.

    But even Zidane will not stay loyal forever unless Bale deserves his inclusion, so there was a heavy burden on the Welsh star to rise to the occasion last night. And he did just that.

    Firstly, Bale opened the scoring with a majestic volley, before later teeing up Cristiano Ronaldo’s first of the night, and his goal and assist in such a high-profile setting did more than enough to justify his continued placement ahead of Asensio in the pecking order.

    It could have been more, with Bale also controversially refused a penalty when he embarked upon a typically electric run to draw a desperate challenge from Sokratis Papastathopoulos.

    But more than just the end product, perhaps the most pleasing thing about his performance was the overall contribution he made – the fact that he was always involved in the action, rather than allowing large chunks of the game to pass him by, as has been the case too often.

    Bale didn’t just outrun Papastathopoulos once to nearly win a penalty; he gave the Greek defender a torrid evening throughout, always looking to get involved in his team’s build-up play and constantly looking capable of getting into goalscoring or goal-creating positions.

    It was exactly the performance he needed to deliver, and although it should be acknowledged that the high line of Dortmund’s defence was tailor made to suit his strengths, that shouldn’t detract from what was probably his best display for more than a year.

    In fact, it was almost perfect. Almost, but not quite, because Bale’s evening ended shortly before the final whistle as he hobbled off to be replaced by Lucas Vazquez.

    This time, hopefully the injury won’t be serious. But ultimately, Bale’s physical frailty will probably be the thing which counts against him and allows Asensio to leapfrog him.

    If he’s fully fit, Bale remains an outstanding player and a key man for Madrid. But that’s a significant if.

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