Gareth Bale scored the crucial goal in Real Madrid’s Champions League final victory over Atletico Madrid and the world’s most expensive player believes that he has now paid off some of his £86 million price tag.
Gareth Bale arrived at Real Madrid in August with plenty to prove after making a world record transfer from Tottenham Hotspur.
The Welshman made a slow start in the Spanish capital but his contribution in the latter stages of the season has been priceless to Los Merengues, scoring the winning goal in the Copa Del Rey final and then netting the crucial goal that gave Real the lead in extra time of their Champions League final victory over Atletico Madrid.
Speaking after Real’s 4-1 win over their rivals, Bale said:
“This is what every footballer dreams of, winning the Champions League, it doesn’t come any bigger than that in club football.
“It was an unbelievable feeling, it will be a memory forever.
“The most important thing for me is we worked hard as a team tonight and won the trophy and the 10th title for the club.
“The price-tag means nothing. If I came here for a penny, I came to the club to play in big competitions and win trophies like we have this season.
“The move has paid off now and we want to win more now.”
Bale had several chances during the 90-minutes but was unable to find a way past Thibaut Courtois but he said that he didn’t allow his head to drop and just continued to work hard and hope for more opportunites.
“I have learned from past experiences to keep going, to forget about the chances I’ve missed and keep persevering and eventually one will come. Thankfully I got a decisive goal and it gave us a lot of momentum going into the final 10 minutes.”
When the chance came, in the 110th minute of the game, the 24-year-old took it coolly, although when asked what was going through his head, Bale responded:
“Do not miss, literally, do not miss.
“It was great to see it go into the back of the net and the celebrations from the crowd meant everything.”
