Display against Burnley shows Gareth Bale still has it

01/03/21 2122

The football career of Wales superstar Gareth Bale has taken a nosedive in recent years. His struggles towards the backend of his time at Real Madrid have been well-documented.

A loan switch to Tottenham last summer was designed to revive the 31-year-old’s flagging fortunes.

Unfortunately, Bale has spent much of his time in north London as an expensive benchwarmer. Like many others, Spurs head coach Jose Mourinho seemed to have doubts over Bale’s fitness, the Portuguese boss never seemed to question his quality though.

When the Welsh winger has played he has had involvements in seven goals. On Sunday, he produced undoubtably the best performance of his second stint in north London, as he scored twice and produced an assist in a 4-0 home win over Burnley.

The display was a throw back to when Bale used to light up White Hart Lane with his electric pace and quality on the ball. We haven’t seen much of that from the winger in the last few years.

The most we have seen in the last few seasons has been flashes of his immense ability, due to injuries, fitness and a seemingly alleged doubts over his commitment to football, or more specifically to Real Madrid.

There is no doubt that Gareth Bale is not the player he was in his mid-twenties, which is virtual the same for most players. Some players seem to be ageless like Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Cristiano Ronaldo. However, due to his past injury problems and style of play, Bale’s game was always likely to deteriorate in his thirties.

The performance against Burnley hinted that he can still produce quality performances at the highest level though, even if the Clarets were generous in their defensive efforts.

The game may just relight Bale’s fire and he could enjoy the last years of his career.