Coming off the bench in his second MLS appearance, Gareth Bale did precisely what he was brought from Madrid to Los Angeles to do.
Late in LAFC’s Saturday matchup with Sporting Kansas City, the Welsh winger drove right at a defender and cooly finished past the goalkeeper to open his MLS account and put the final touches on a 2–0 victory.
Bale is the latest addition to LAFC’s star-studded roster that sits four points clear in first place in the Western Conference. A five-time Champions League winner (and arguably the most decorated British player of all time), his eight-year spell at Real Madrid ended in turmoil. He made just 16 league starts in his last two years, scoring three goals.
But before he fell out of favor with then-manager Zinedine Zidane—and eventually the Madrid fan base—Bale helped lead Los Blancos to numerous trophies, most notably the 2018 Champions League, where his sensational bicycle kick goal helped seal the club’s third straight title. That UCL win came after several prolific goalscoring seasons—he notched at least 13 goals in five of the previous six years.
With LAFC now locked in a title hunt of its own, Bale’s championship pedigree can obviously assist. If his new club can unlock his goalscoring prowess as well, they’ll be a force to be reckoned with when the MLS Cup Playoffs roll around.
