Bale - Two finals, two goals, two trophies. Move justified

Gareth Bale wins Champions League

Gareth Bale proved he was right to leave Tottenham last summer to join chase his dream of not only playing for Real Madrid but winning the biggest prize of all.



His single minded work ethic meant he first had to work at his game so hard that Real Madrid would want to buy him in the first place. Compare that to the current crop of Spurs players and their mental attitudes are worlds apart.

If he wanted to play Champions League, if he wanted to win trophies, if he wanted to be the best he could be, he had to join a group of like minded players. You find these players at the worlds best clubs earning the best money. They are bought for one reason, they have the right mental attitude, the skill and ability that comes with it is a result of that mental attitude. Without it they wouldn't be the player they are.

Zinidine Zidane pointed out that that is the attitude Real Madrid as a club have.

"There's a mentality which means you have to win every game. If you don't, it's difficult to take."

That spirit was shown when Sergio Ramos rescued Real Madrid with the last header of the game to take the Champions League final into extra time. At that point there was only ever going to be one winner.

Zidane told Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez that he must buy Gareth Bale, Carlo Ancelloti told Pérez he must buy Gareth Bale.

Zidane told reporters Real Madrid should buy him because he would make the difference, regardless of his talent he has a remarkable ability to score crucial goals at crucial times. That is down to mentality, nothing else, a winners mentality.

"He is consistently scoring spectacular goals and very important goals."

With 5 minutes to go in the Copa del Rey Final against Barcelona Bale sprinted down the left wing, was pushed off the pitch but still ran round the defender and left him for dead. He then fired the ball home to win the Real Madrid the Spanish Cup.

In extra time in the Champions League Final in Portugal Bale saw Angel de Maria's run and anticipated where the ball was going. Not only did he keep going and run into the box to give himself a chance, but if you watch his run, just as the Argentine winger was about to shoot Bale anticipated the keeper may parry the ball to the far post.

He curved his run outside the defender and sure enough the on loan Chelsea keeper parried the ball into the area Bale was waiting. A lesser player, a player with less hunger allowing fatigue to effect his decision making would not have made that crucial arc in his run, he'd have stayed central and probably then not scored. It was the defining moment.

Bale duly headed home the crucial goal that won the Champions League with Atletico dead on their feet, so mush so that their mean defence conceded a further two goals. Bale did what Zidane said he could do and justified his price tag in those two moments. The off field money Real Madrid will now make as a result covers his fee and wages, the investment as Florentino Perez put it paid off.

Two finals, two goals, two trophies.

I have said it before and I'll say it again Spurs MUST buy players who are mental winners, not just talented players if we hope to join the big time. We must cultivate that mentality and use a Sports Psychologist to mentally assess any future purchase. We must become the world leaders at mentally assessing players so that we have an edge in the transfer market. We can't compete on wages so we have to beat the top clubs another way and this provides a way to do that.

There will be small minds of course who resent Bale's success but his goal, his success completely vindicated his decision.

"After previous experiences, I've learned to keep going. Forget about the chances you missed and thankfully we got the momentum.

"We played Atletico four times already this season, every one was very close and difficult, when they get ahead they are difficult to break down. Once we got the goal, we had the momentum into extra time.

"When we play our game, we win football games. We knew if we kept attacking, we would win.

"For me, the price tag [of Bale's transfer from Spurs] means nothing, if I came for a penny it would have been worth it as long as I play well. We want to win more now. This is what every player dreams of, winning the Champions League.

"It will be a memory forever and it'll be great to look back on in future years."

Congratulations Gareth, let's hope you have inspired some of our players to realise they have to keep trying to improve if they want to win anything and not put in the type of performances they have this season.

The mentality of Bale and our squad are mile apart, that's why he's a Champions League winner and players watch the final.

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