The contrast was there right from the start when Gareth Bale
met Cristiano Ronaldo in the players' car park on his first day at Real Madrid
in 2013 — one looking a million dollars, the other more like a million pesetas.
The boy from Cardiff did have a Louis Vuitton washbag under
one arm but he had a carrier bag under the other, and he was minus the £10,000
wristwatch, £500 sunglasses and the shiny Dolce & Gabbana belt which all
decorated the gleaming Ronaldo. It was golden boy meets the boy next door.
On Wednesday evening in Lyon as they meet once more, this
time wearing the colours of their respective countries, Ronaldo will still be
football's glistening supermodel and Bale still challenger to the reining
champ.
But the Welshman will stand just as tall as his rival in the
Stade de Lyon tunnel — his tournament performances having increased the feeling
that a changing of the guard is closer than ever.
There are three lockers between Bale's and Ronaldo's in the
Real Madrid dressing room. Those bearing the names of Toni Kroos, James
Rodriguez and Karim Benzema separate the two most expensive signings in the
club's history.
They are rarely sat any closer in the dining room at
Madrid's Valdebebas training ground and they neither socialise, nor exchange
phone messages.
But those close to Bale say that comes from them simply
having different lifestyles and if there has been any animosity over their
three years together it has come from the players close to Ronaldo as opposed
to the man himself.
Players such as Marcelo and Rodriguez have, on occasions,
seen fit to pick one talisman over the other, sacrificing their relationship
with Bale in the process. But Ronaldo has long since taken on board the fact
that he is better with Bale than against him.
He may have resented being told by Real Madrid president
Florentino Perez, back when Bale first signed, that he should 'help him become
a Balon d'Or' but last season he publicly admitted, during a period when Bale
was out injured, that things were a whole lot easier for him with the Wales
star in the side.
Zinedine Zidane has also had a positive impact on the pair's
relationship. Carlo Ancelotti, in his book Quiet Leadership: Winning Hearts,
Minds and Matches, revealed earlier this year that when he coached Madrid he
was asked by Perez to change Bale's position to give him a more central
starting point and more freedom to roam — the role he has with Wales.
'I explained to him [Bale] what I had said to the president,
that it was impossible for me to change the system as it wasn't just one
position, it was the whole team,' wrote Ancelotti.
The sub-text of his response was that giving Bale more
freedom would potentially limit Ronaldo's.
Ancelotti's replacement, Rafa Benitez, was more inclined to
accommodate Bale at Ronaldo's expense, and each player having a coach that put
their interests first did not help relations. Zidane, though, has kept everyone
happy and been hugely successful.
Bale must still resign himself to Ronaldo dictating the movements
of Madrid's front three. The Portuguese still makes the first run, with Bale
and Karim Benzema then filling the spaces vacated, but that is gradually
changing and with Ronaldo out of the side during the La Liga run-in it was
Bale's goals and performances that kept Real in the title race.
It makes sense for Bale to have freedom to arrive centrally
when no other player in Europe's top leagues scored as many headers last
season. Not even Ronaldo.
After France, Ronaldo will be more aware than ever that
winning things next season will be more likely if he works with Bale than
against him.
There will be a shake of the hand before the game on
Wednesday night, but almost definitely not an exchange of shirts on the final
whistle. This is one No 11 jersey that will stay on Bale's back and will remain
in his treasured possessions — too precious to give away.
Last October, Bale climbed off the treatment table in Madrid
having missed four matches for his club, to play for his country against Bosnia
and Herzegovina as Wales guaranteed qualification to Euro 2016.
Most Real Madrid supporters expected him to then return to
Spain and play no part in the dead-rubber against Andorra which was to be
little more than a huge party to celebrate Wales' qualification.
Instead, he stayed and played the full 90 minutes. He was at
the heart of the champagne-spraying afterwards and when he returned to Madrid,
immediately picked up an injury in the following game.
When he failed to reappear for the second half of their next
match with Levante, some fans joked that he had taken an early cut to watch
Wales' Rugby World Cup quarter-final being played that afternoon.
Less amused was Diario AS columnist Tomas Roncero, who
raged: 'You cost 100m euros Gareth, but you preferred to play 90 minutes
against Andorra than play for Madrid.'
Ronaldo, meanwhile, had been in a similar position, with
Portugal's second game of the international break also rendered pointless
because they had already qualified. But he boarded a jet soon after the first
game ended to come back to Madrid.
Bale had put Wales first, his club second. The club,
remember, that had broken a world transfer record to sign him, though they
denied it so as not to upset the usurped Ronaldo.
But it is not just Bale's personality that has made it
easier for him to take the Wales team on this journey. His football has played
a big part too.
Speaking to former Real assistant coach Paul Clement in
December 2013, I asked him if he accepted that in signing Bale, Real Madrid had
bought a Ronaldo clone. He seemed surprised by the idea, saying: 'Do you think
so?
'There are similarities because both are good with
dead-balls, both are wingers who score an incredible amount of goals, and both
are athletes, but I think Gareth plays between the lines more. He'll come
inside and play combinations. He'll look to slide balls into other players.'
Those qualities have been there for all to see in France.
Everyone knows he has explosive power in the final third but he has been happy
to build from deep with Aaron Ramsey.
Now the emphasis will be on him to do that even more in the
suspended Arsenal man's absence.
Bale's selfless football has helped drag Wales forwards but
he never dominated to the extent of smothering the team's other virtues.
The newspaper El Pais said on Sunday: 'No one thinks of him
as just the vanity project/impulse buy of Real Madrid president Perez anymore.
They now talk about Bale the footballer, the player who, in a competition as
competitive as the European Championship, has been able to put Wales on the
map.'
They love a tournament hero at Madrid. They usually buy one
after every World Cup and European Championship. This time that might not be
necessary — the star of the show is already at home.
Madrid is also the one club in the world where Balon d'Or
podium places are valued as much as team trophies so expectations are high that
Bale can join Ronaldo in Zurich next January, flanking Leo Messi, whose Copa
America failings surely condemns him to watching Ronaldo win the award for the
fourth time.
Unless we are closer to Bale dethroning Ronaldo than we
realise.
Unless Bale knocks Ronaldo out of Euro 2016 with a
performance that lives up to the words of his team-mate Hal Robson-Kanu: 'Messi
and Ronaldo are out of this world but we have Gareth and he is better than both
of them.'
Wales are showing that anything is possible and in Madrid it
is literally a win-win.
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