OT - Bale's INSANE goal - even haters must see
I found the Youtube link, but, I'm sure it's on the internet about a billion places:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXxITbYGCbE
This is one of the most incredible goals I've ever seen -- how it develops from start to finish, what he did to score it, the situation (game tied 1-1, five minutes to go), you're going, NO HE WONT NO HE WONT OH WAIT YES HE DID.
For the uninitiated, the backdrop makes it even more impressive. This is the final for Spain's annual cup (equivalent to England's FA Cup), between the two arch-rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona. Real was missing its top player, Christian Ronaldo (US will see him in Brazil). Bale was the world's most expensive transfer ever; Real bought him 2 years ago from Tottenham Hotspurs for $144M (that's paid to Spurs, not to the player). He dominated the EPL two years ago, thus the huge transfer fee. But he has injury issues and never really lived up to the hype, until recently when he's been on a scoring tear.
So -- hugely important game, huge rivalry, hugely significant player. And it was tied 1-1 with 5 minutes left in regulation. And he came up with THAT. I mean... are you kidding me? How he RAN AROUND a defender. Note how the defender is closer to the ball and takes a straight line; but Bale goes the Great Circle Route, still gets there first by 5 yards, and holds the guy off for 20 yards while walking up to goal. "Excuse me Mr. Goalie, but I gotta put the ball in the net, k, thanks, bye."
April 17th, 2014 at 11:05 AM ^
Meh. The stakes were big I'll grant you that, but ten years from now that goal won't be remembered as one of the best of all time. It spoke more to how slow that defender was than to how magically fast Bale was. Runs like these blow it away:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRniTPbhkJ4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmAmK6HlYAY
Not to mention the shot on goal wasn't fancy at all, he just got lucky that it went under the keeper.
Still an incredible goal, but when you refer to it as "insane" you go too far.
April 17th, 2014 at 11:09 AM ^
April 17th, 2014 at 11:11 AM ^
Holy crap.
April 17th, 2014 at 11:26 AM ^
Messi is good, but to say Gareth Bale is not fast is......inaccurate. Bale is well known for bursts of speed and being able to get shots off in slivers of space.
I'm still sad he left Tottenham, but it's hard to say that a guy who wants to go to Real Madrid and has the chance to do so shouldn't do it(no matter how much my team misses him).
April 17th, 2014 at 11:53 AM ^
"Not to mention the shot on goal wasn't fancy at all, he just got lucky that it went under the keeper."
Goalie does that he'd have probably chipped it over him and naysayers would be saying "he just got lucky that ....."
April 17th, 2014 at 12:23 PM ^
I wasn't a soccer hater before but after reading all that buildup for a "highlight goal" that wasn't even momentarily exciting I think I might become one.
April 17th, 2014 at 12:40 PM ^
"Insane"? It's a really nice goal. But this thread is massively overselling it.
April 17th, 2014 at 11:01 AM ^
Is that a red if he falls there? There was no one left and the defender didn't even attempt to play the ball.
April 17th, 2014 at 11:02 AM ^
Everyone knows that the Great Circle route is shorter.
April 17th, 2014 at 11:04 AM ^
i have to disagree with you here. i thought the defender slowed down for the ball after he pushed bale out of bounds. and pinto is a backup goalie for a reason. he let an easy goal in early in the game and comes out with his legs wayyy to open. there was no way he wasn't getting nutmegged.
bale, to his credit, didnt stop, but this is more of a case of poor defense and goal keeping versus an "insane" goal. to put it another way, sometimes a guy just makes the shot - nothing can be done about that (a la harrison's three over levert). other times, it feels like you've given the shot up. as a barca fan, this was way more the latter.
April 17th, 2014 at 11:06 AM ^
agreed
April 17th, 2014 at 11:27 AM ^
Agreed with both of you guys. I am a Bale fan - but this was a goal born of (a) pace (b) defender sorta relaxing when Bale was out of bounds and (c) pretty awful goaltending - you need to come out and cut that angle off. If it was an average speed player the defender would have recovered and at minimum been shoulder to shoulder. Bale has a lot of pace to him so I am more impressed with technical skill than just someone out "athleting" another guy.
Just to throw out a recent example, the Man U goal (Evra) in the 3-1 loss to Bayern in CL was way more "insane" - a half volley heat seeking missle into the upper corner - and even that would not be a top 10 goal in a typical year.
dude... i love your signature because that's me as well.
April 17th, 2014 at 11:05 AM ^
Huge stakes yeah but not really an insane goal that everyone must see.... I was expecting something more epic with more traffic or some ridiculous bend where the ball isn't going in and then oh wait, it went in.
The most impressive part isn't the goal but how he ran by the defender. Have you watched Neymar? Watching him get by defenders can be really funny and would lead to many "insane" goals.
April 17th, 2014 at 11:06 AM ^
I don't think that will convert many haters....
April 17th, 2014 at 11:06 AM ^
I apparently don't watch soccer enough, cause I don't really get it.
That defender doesn't run in a straight line, he tries to cut him off, he stumbles and then takes a circular path as he tries to redirect Bale. Bale sprints past him, but hardly seems that difficult when the back had his momentum going in the wrong direction at the start.
I also am having a hard time figuring out what the guy in goal is doing.
Was that an especially out of the ordinary goal?
April 17th, 2014 at 11:37 AM ^
No it really wasn't.... Keeper didn't do what he was supposed to, defender didn't do what he was supposed to and bale got the game winner.
April 17th, 2014 at 11:07 AM ^
This was both awesome and sad to see.
April 17th, 2014 at 11:07 AM ^
I'm not a hater but good lord that's a lot of buildup for a goal that I've seen scored in youth games before.
He kicks it way ahead of a defenseman that makes a bad play (and his momentum is going the wrong way), runs to it, and slides it past the goalie. Yeah, big goal in a big game by a guy that has chronically underperformed since going to Spain, but it definitely wasn't INSANE and wasn't even that cooool of a goal.
I like soccer, but I thought the recent one where teammates tap it to each other like 5 times in the penalty box was a lot cooler. As well as pretty much any goal Messi scores.
April 17th, 2014 at 11:08 AM ^
Great first touch and burst of speed yes, but the goal itself was pretty meh.
April 17th, 2014 at 11:09 AM ^
His heart sign celebration.
April 17th, 2014 at 11:10 AM ^
But do these "haters" exist? Even as a frequent soccer player, I can't scrounge up enough shits to give either way.
F--k Bale. That broke my Barca's back. Nevermind that Pinto was in goal and he's garbage compared to Valdes who is out with an injury.
And I agree with HS above - watching Barca kick it around the penalty box with extra passes for fun is much more impressive that the dump-and-chase goals that you see here and in the EPL all the time.
#YepStillMadBro
April 17th, 2014 at 11:23 AM ^
That was a good goal, but if that's as exciting as it gets in soccer then I will stick with watching american football and rugby.
April 17th, 2014 at 11:38 AM ^
Apparently Real Madrid used to be Franco's "team" in the sense that it was a propaganda vehicle for his regime. Barcelona is located in Catalonia, an area of particularly harsh fighting during the Spainish Civil War and a hotbed of republicanism. The history behind this matchup makes a mockery of any American sports rivarly.
Then, of course, you have the Rangers-Celtics in Glasgow. Europe takes sports rivalries to a whole other level.
April 17th, 2014 at 11:47 AM ^
April 17th, 2014 at 12:12 PM ^
Football!!
So you're saying that guys who kick balls for a living are prone to making funny mistakes?
April 17th, 2014 at 11:43 AM ^
Really impressive display of Bale's physical talent, but an insane goal? The goal itself is nice, but nothing stellar. It was a breakaway and he slotted it as any good goal scorer should. The run, the stage, those are all top notch. 8 out of 10 for the entire run of play.
April 17th, 2014 at 12:16 PM ^
Agree, Bale has scored a ton of goals that were far more impressive than that. He does have great speed though, and this was a showcase of that speed.
April 17th, 2014 at 11:45 AM ^
but is he right or left-handed/footed or doesn't it matter? Also, those that say the defender's not trying, that doesn't look accurate. just got beat.
April 17th, 2014 at 12:51 PM ^
Marc Bartra (the defender in question) was playing with a recently healed hamstring injury and reaggrevated it on that play.
April 17th, 2014 at 11:51 AM ^
All he did was run by a defender and 5-hole the goalie. Maybe a big goal, but not an impressive one
April 17th, 2014 at 11:52 AM ^
But you better focus on hockey!
April 17th, 2014 at 11:57 AM ^
2) the fact that he left the field of play takes it away from me.
April 17th, 2014 at 11:59 AM ^
When I saw the title of this thread, I was expecting to see Christian Bale talking about his goal to lose an insane amount of weight for his next movie role.
I think I watch too many movies.
I'm not even a soccer fan, and I've seen at least twenty more impressive goals over the years.
I was expecting to see a MUCH more impressive goal than the one the OP posted. Now, maybe the timing of the goal or the significance of the goal made it more dramatic, but as an objective observer with no pony in the race, I wasn't that impressed.
April 17th, 2014 at 12:28 PM ^
April 17th, 2014 at 12:49 PM ^
Valdes would've saved it.
As a Tottenham Hotspur fan I can say this, that isn't even remotely close to Bale's best goal. It didn't show a whole lot of individual skill - which he has in spades - it was more a testament to strength and pace than anything. It was an important goal, but I don't really know that it was an insane goal.