Gareth Bale showed all the signs of his old self with an impressive free kick in Wales’s World Cup playoff qualifier against Austria.
In the 25th minute of the UEFA playoff semifinal, the 32-year-old forward stepped to a free kick from about 20 yards and whipped the ball into the top corner of the net for the opening goal. The Real Madrid star then ran off to the corner to celebrate in front of a raucous home crowd in Cardiff.
Bale then added a second goal in the 51st minute to double Wales’s lead. For Bale, who has played in as many games for Real Madrid as he has for Wales since the start of the season, it was his 38th goal in 101 appearances for the country.
It was also the all-time Wales goalscorer’s first goal for club or country since his September hat trick against Belarus.
The winner of Thursday night’s fixture will have to wait until June for its World Cup playoff final after the Scotland-Ukraine semifinal was postponed due to the war in Ukraine.
The eventual winner of that final will already know its World Cup group after being placed in Pot 4 for next week’s 2022 World Cup draw.
