Real Madrid: Bale's Champions League knock-out drought
The Welshman has scored in two finals but has not managed a goal in the earlier knock-out stages since his first season at Real Madrid.
The ‘Lord of the Finals’ has had issues when it comes to scoring in the earlier knock-out stages of the Champions League.
Gareth Bale has not scored in the knock-out rounds of the competition since his first season at Real Madrid, with his last goal coming against Borussia Dortmund in the quarter finals in April, 2014.
The Welshman had a similar problem when he was at Tottenham, where he was unable to manage a goal in any of the three Champions League knockout ties he played while at the North London club.
Bale’s first-ever UCL knock-out fixture for Madrid came in the last-16 first leg against Schalke in 2014, where he scored the second and fifth goals in the 6-1 win. He then scored the aforementioned goal in the 3-0 victory over Dortmund and put the icing on that campaign by netting the second goal against Atlético in the final.
Since then, aside from his brace against Liverpool in the 2018 final in Kiev, the 30-year-old forward has not scored in 21 knock-out games, or 1,412 minutes of play.
Bale's Champions League record
In his seven seasons at Madrid, the Cardiff-born player has featured in 54 games in the Champions League, scoring 16 goals. His average in the European competition is a goal every 233 minutes, while in LaLiga he manages a goal every 155 minutes.
He has now accumulated a five-game goalless streak in the Champions League. He last scored in the group stages against Roma last season in November 2018.
This season, while he has not scored in the two European games he has played – both against PSG (79 minutes at Parc des Princes and 21 minutes at the Bernabéu) – the Welshman has managed three goals in other competitions.
His goal against Unionistas in the Copa del Rey on 22 January was his first in almost four months, since he scored a brace against Villarreal on 1 September in LaLiga.