If Gareth Bale hung his boots up tomorrow, there would be few who railed against the suggestion he is the greatest footballing Welshman of all time.
John Charles was a colossus, Ryan Giggs was world class, heck, Neville Southall was the best goalkeeper in the world in the 1980s, but what Bale has achieved for club and country in his storied career makes every Welsh man and woman beam with pride like never before.
It is why his insidious, jarring relationship with the Spanish media feels like a personal affront to many in this corner of the world. Is he blameless in it all? Of course not. He has done his fair share of eye-winking and pot stirring by posing in team photos doing a golf swing and, of course, that flag he danced with on Wales duty (more on that later). But many believe Marca have stepped over the line this week in their depiction of Bale as a cartoon parasite, sucking blood from the Real Madrid badge.
