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.
It's been building for some time. The narrative shifted in Spain a few years back when he suddenly became a bizarre lightning rod for abuse from fans and critics alike after then coach Zinedine Zidane deemed him surplus to requirements.
Lest we forget, of course, Bale has won 14 trophies while at the Bernabeu, more than Zidane during his playing career. He has more Real Madrid goals than the Brazilian Ronaldo and has produced more assists for the club than David Beckham. The guy should be a celebrated legend as much there as he is for Wales. Alas, that is not the case. In fact, in the last couple of years, it has been the opposite.
We have seen some quite shocking incidents which have built up to this week's ugly Marca article and it's probably fair to think they are all interlinked. The media fuels the narrative and fans run with it.
On Friday, Bale had finally seen enough, speaking out passionately about the treatment he has received.
Here's how we got to this point.
The 'Wales. Golf. Madrid' flag
While things had clearly been bubbling beneath the surface for some time, the real flashpoint to kickstart the worst of it appears to have been in November 2019 when Bale danced happily behind that now infamous 'Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order.' flag after beating Hungary 2-0 to book their place in Euro 2020.
It came in direct response to former Real Madrid player Predrag Mijatovic, who stuck the boot into Bale, criticising the Cardiff-born star's love of golf when he wrote in a column for Spanish outlet AS: "The first thing he thinks about is Wales, then golf and after that, Real Madrid."
Naturally, adoring Wales fans threw their support behind their talismanic forward during that Hungary game, swapping out the lyrics from "Viva Gareth Bale" to "Wales. Golf. Madrid." It's become a running joke ever since. In this country, at least.
Marca, predictably, were outraged. Their front page splash after the incident read: “Irrespetuoso. Desacertado. Desagradecido. En ese orden.” It translates as: “Disrespectful. Wrong. Ungrateful. In that order.”
Los Blancos fans subsequently jeered him when he came on for Real Madrid just days later in a game against Real Sociedad.
Explosive headlines after 'sleeping' on the bench
In the summer of 2020, Bale's crumbling relationship with Zidane and the press came to a head. The sight of Bale laughing and pretending to sleep on the Real Madrid bench during their victory over Alaves evoked reactions ranging from laughter to anger and everything in between.
When Zidane called on Brahim Diaz as his fifth substitute, consigning Bale to the bench for the rest of the match once again, supporters on these shores were left baffled over why the player continued to be ostracised. Bale laughed almost in disbelief and pulled his face mask over his eyes, creating a makeshift sleeping mask, presumably as a means of making light of what was becoming an ugly situation in Spain.
The media, of course, took the nuclear option. 'Bale's career at Madrid cannot be resuscitated', Marca's headline read the next morning. Former Venezuela international Alejandro Riera, also a pundit on ESPN, blasted Bale by saying: "Such immaturity, what are we? Kids? He has become a caricature of himself!"
Mundo Deportivo wrote, in a damning column, "He is no longer necessary".
'Keep your mouth shut!'
Later that summer, the winger reportedly told the manager he did not want to travel to Manchester for a Champions League clash because he knew he would not be played.
Columnist Jesus Gallego branded Bale's decision not to travel to Manchester "shameful" and his flag-holding episode a "bad taste joke" before taking an oddly sinister turn in his next AS column, trying to put a gagging order on the player during an upcoming international break.
"Respect and decorum have been demanded of him in his behaviour and statements," he wrote of Bale. "It is bad that he gave up being an important player in Madrid, but if he continued to disrespect the club it would be outrageous.
"So keep your mouth shut and keep your form, no one can pay you what you take here."
Bale sealed a loan move to his former club Tottenham shortly after, and the same outlet branded the forward 'cursed' as Spurs threw away a 3-0 lead against West Ham in his first game back for the north London club.
'He's taking the p***!'
It was telling that, in the lead-up to Gareth Bale's 100th Wales cap back in November 2021, he made a point of mentioning the treatment he received from the media in this country compared to Spain.
"It is such a special country," Bale said. "It is such a special bond between the players, the staff, the fans, and even the media are a little bit nicer to us."
While Wales, and the rest of the UK media, deservedly lavished praise on a modern-day great in the wake of him receiving his 100th cap for his beloved country, back in Spain they did not miss a chance to stick the boot in once again after an injury-plagued run in the Spanish capital.
Spanish pundit Antonio Romero said on radio station Cadena Ser: "Considering he’s Real Madrid’s best-paid player, his attitude is disgraceful.
"On 30 June [when his contract expires], Madrid will get a load off their backs. I think he’s a poor example to others in the dressing room and in private someone should give him an absolute rollicking.
"It’s shocking that he’s a starter today for his national team after more than two months without playing for Madrid. He’s taking the p*** out of the club he represents."
Fans' hostile confrontation as missile thrown at his car
Bale was subjected to vile abuse outside of Real Madrid's training base just days later as so-called fans hurled expletives at him and one threw a pen at his car.
An injury to his calf on international duty meant that he would miss a number of weeks of action for Los Blancos, stirring the ire once again of those sharpening their pens in the press offices there. The news sparked a vicious backlash in the Spanish media, with one pundit erupting live on TV over Bale's chequered injury record.
However, that then spilled over into actual abuse being thrown Bale's way within touching distance. A video emerged on Twitter showing the 32-year-old leaving the Spanish club's Valdebebas base with a small group of fans waiting outside.
They began to curse at the Wales talisman, with calls of "F*** you!" being heard from one fan. Another screams "Maricon!" which is a homophobic slur. During the vile verbal abuse, one supporter appears to throw a pen into the side of Bale's Audi, prompting the player to stop and look at the perpetrator before driving off. It was not the first time Bale's car has been targeted, following on from an unsavoury incident in 2015 after a 2-1 loss to Barcelona.
Bale's agent, Jonathan Barnett, slammed Real Madrid fans for the way the Wales star had been treated by them. Speaking to Spanish outlet El Chiringuito, Barnett stated: “I don’t, why should I care?” after being asked if he considers the opinion of the Real Madrid supporters. "I think they’ve been disgusting to Gareth Bale."
The 'Welsh parasite'
Marca this week launched another attack on Bale, branding him "the Welsh parasite". Earlier in the week, Bale awoke to enraged headlines from Spanish media organisations on Wednesday as they took umbrage with the Wales captain daring to enjoy himself during a training session with his international team-mates.
Marca themselves plastered the image of a happy-looking Bale and Joe Rodon in Welsh training gear alongside the headline "It doesn't hurt anymore". The accompanying text read: "Bale, who didn't even see the Clasico at the stadium, trains hard with Wales."
On Thursday Marca continued to question him. Accompanying a headline which read, simply, "The Welsh Parasite", their website mocked up an image of Bale's face on a parasite's body, appearing to suck blood from the Real Madrid badge.
Following his stunning opener, Bale repeatedly patted the Welsh dragon on his chest before appearing to yell "suck that" to a nearby television camera. He was asked if his celebrations were a message to those who penned such brutal words on his situation ahead of the game, and the attacker's response was telling.
"No. I don't need to send a message, honestly," he told Sky Sports. "It's a waste of my time. It's disgusting, they should all be ashamed of themselves. I'm not fussed. End of."
A Spanish TV pundit then, somewhat extraordinarily, called for Real Madrid to fire Bale as an argument broke out live on television. Broadcaster Cristobal Soria said on El Chiringuito, an outlet which has been particularly harsh to the player in recent years: "He's stamping on the club! And you're here saying 'well it's that, it's that.' What?! He has to go! You have to fire him! But what do you mean June? He's going to carry on lacking respect for the badge and the institution. And you want to wait until June? My God man..."
Bale hits back
The Wales star then hit back after Marca's tasteless editorial and accompanying cartoon in an explosive statement condemning the abuse he had received from Marca as "slanderous, derogatory and speculative".
He continued: "At a time when people are taking their own lives because of the callousness and relentlessness of the media, I want to know, who is holding these journalists and the news outlets that allow them to write articles like this, accountable?
"Fortunately I have developed a thick skin during my time in the public spotlight, but that doesn't mean articles like these don't cause damage and upset personally and professionally to those at the receiving end of these malicious stories. I have witnessed the toll the media can take on peoples mental and physical health.
"The media expect superhuman performances from professional athletes, and will be the first to celebrate with them when they deliver, yet instead of commiserating with them when they show an ounce of human error, they are torn to shreds instead, encouraging anger and disappointment in their fans.
"The everyday pressures on athletes is immense, and it's as clear as day, how negative media attention could easily send an already stressed athlete, or anybody in the public eye, over the edge. I hope that by the time our children are of an age where they are able to ingest news, that journalism ethics and standards will have been enforced more stringently.
"So I want to use my platform to encourage change in the way we publicly talk about, and criticise people, simply for the most part, not meeting the often unrealistic expectations that are projected onto them. We all know who the real parasite is!"
The next step
The groundswell of negativity in the Spanish media has grown to be harmful, nasty and even personal. It's served as a stark reminder that the constant abuse and narrative which is being propagated from several corners of the media in Spain can manifest itself into face-to-face confrontation, ugly verbal volleys and even physical attacks on his property, such as outside the Valdebebas training ground last year.
Constructive criticism over a player's performance on the pitch is fair game and no one is saying otherwise, but questioning the contents of a person's character oversteps a boundary and that has been the case this week. Reducing Bale to a leech-like organism sucking a club dry, after winning 14 trophies, including four Champions Leagues and two La Ligas, is simply unwarranted, even if it is of course meant to be satirical.
Real Madrid offered Bale an extraordinarily lucrative, six-year contract in 2016 and it would have been utter lunacy for him to turn that sort of deal down. No one in their right mind would do such a thing, he is securing his own future as well as his family's. The fact the club now deem that to have been some sort of mistake is no concern of Bale's whatsoever, so it's baffling that he is constantly being stung for the money he is receiving.
While his injury record has at times been poor, Zidane froze him out of the side long ago. Bale even accepted a move to China before the club stepped in at the last minute to sever the deal. He also agreed a season-long loan move away to Tottenham, with whom he enjoyed a good season in the Premier League, to ease the club's financial burden.
Real Madrid's chastening 4-0 defeat by Barcelona last week hardly had anything to do with Bale's niggling injury, yet some Spanish publications tore into him once more. Even when Bale had been fit in the last few weeks, Carlo Ancelotti only saw it fit for him to populate the substitutes' bench, anyway.
The contrast between how he is viewed in the two countries is so stark it is boggles the mind. He is the Prince of Wales here, he can do no wrong and the people of Wales have an unconditional love for him. The treatment in Madrid, a city in which he has largely excelled over the last nine years during a period of great success, is downright confusing.
Much of the live TV and radio outbursts are the sort of posturing rants which have seemingly become normalised in modern punditry, but they have a lasting effect on football fans and, in turn, players. Bale felt it right to call it out — he generally keeps his counsel — and highlight that it is at odds with a positive push towards aiding sports stars with their mental health, exemplified in this country by the EFL's link-up with the charity Mind.
Quite what Bale's outburst will do to alter views and media output in Spain remains to be seen, but the upshot is that he has only a few more months there until he jets off elsewhere. He knows he will be afforded more latitude in this country, where he is recognised as one of the greatest British exports ever to have played the game, but if he heads to pastures new elsewhere it will represent a clean slate.
After all, he has nothing left to prove in Madrid and he will be able to rid himself of the media talons with his head held extremely high.
