Bale set for acid test of nerve

Champions League semi-final second-leg

Gareth Bale was bought for nights like this; Real Madrid hope he was born for nights like this.

The Allianz Arena in Munich is a long way from White Hart Lane and it’s even further from Cardiff Bay, where Bale spent his formative years.

But his life has changed irrevocably and now that skinny kid from Wales must show just why £78m was spent on securing his services last summer.

In short he is expected to take tonight’s Champions League semi-final between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich by the scruff of the neck.

The pressure on him is immense; his Real Madrid side are desperately, forever in search of ‘La Decima’ — the 10th European Cup that they feel certain would cement their status as the world’s preeminent club.

It was intriguing, then, that Bale admitted last night to a few pre-match nerves. Footballers at the highest level are seen almost as machines; nerves are not supposed to enter the equation.

Yet in the same moment he proved he was human, we were reminded of his last goal that could only have been scored by a freak of nature — that almost unbelievable effort that won the Copa del Rey against Barcelona.

And the expectation is that Bale or Cristiano Ronaldo, who still overshadows him in Madrid, must step up against Bayern tonight.

Madrid proved in the first-leg that they are more than capable of succeeding thanks to their rope-a-dope tactics — Bayern had 72% possession in the Bernabeu — and an away goal could make things devilishly difficult for their hosts.

Bayern are not in particularly good form at present, having won just four of their last nine matches in all competitions, but they will also be motivated by dreams of immortality as they look to become the first team to retain this trophy in its current guise.

To do so they must silence both Bale and Ronaldo. The Welshman is looking forward to showing his worth, but nerves will have to be quashed beforehand. Considering almost exactly a year ago he was playing for Tottenham at Wigan, the change in his life and career over the last 12 months has been extraordinary.

“I am a little bit nervous, everyone gets a little nervous,” smiled the Welshman. “It is such a big game, after all, but they are positive nerves.

“If you want to win trophies then you have to play against the big teams, the great teams, and we are hoping to do that tomorrow.

“It’s great playing with him (Ronaldo). It was a massive reason I came here, to play with the best players in the world, and I am enjoying it.

“Me and Cristiano speak all of the time, but the most important thing is we have a great relationship on the pitch. We work well together.

“We realise the expectations at the club and we wanted to win the Champions League. It was great to win the Copa del Rey, but we want to push on, take each game as it comes and win the Champions League.”

To do so they must defeat a team that many thought was unbeatable. Yet Bayern are enduring a dip in form and will need to find rather more of a cutting edge than they did in the Bernabeu.

Pep Guardiola is under real pressure now, with his first season in charge likely to judged primarily on how his side fare in this season’s competition.

“I cannot imagine that [the Real coach] Carlo Ancelotti will set up his team in such a way as to just keep the result,” said the Spaniard.

“That would be difficult to maintain. Obviously it is clear what we need to do. We need to score more than one goal.

“Real are a quick team so we always have to be positioned well when we lose possession. The best way is to keep them a long way away from our goal.”

The feeling was that Real are rather more relaxed than Bayern. Carlo Ancelotti, the Madrid coach, only became frustrated when he was asked about reported interest from Manchester United — “I would like to stay here a long time, I am really happy here,” was his take — and instead he mused on the benefits of catenaccio, or the meaning of Real Madrid and what they stand for.

“We play a different football,” said the Italian. “It is clear the large part of the game we play attacking football, we did not have a lot of possession but we needed a transition more rapid to give our attackers the chance to take advantage of their physical and technical characteristics. We need to work more to make Real have a better identity.”

In other words, short, sharp breaks are the order of the day. With Ronaldo and Bale in the team, it would be foolish to play any other way. The smart money may just be on Real doing it.