Take a bow, Gareth. Take. A. Bow.
Yes, it may only have taken place in an ultimately meaningless pre-season friendly, but Gareth Bale managed to produce one of the most satisfying-to-watch passes of all time on Tuesday night. Are we exaggerating? Possibly, but it's still really, really lovely.
Inside the first couple of minutes of Real Madrid's International Champions Cup game against Roma in New York, the Welshman received the ball on the right, just inside the opposition's half.
Affording himself one touch to control and another to push the ball away from a Roma player who had scampered over to close him down, Bale appeared to be going nowhere.
Instead of continuing his path down the wing, Bale spotted the run of Marco Asensio. With the outside of his left boot, he lofted a perfectly measured pass over the head of Ivan Marcano which curled into the path of his teammate.
One-on-one with the goalkeeper, Asensio allowed the ball to bounce twice before side-footing home.
Assuming you've not already scrolled down past all the words above, here is Asensio's goal and, more importantly, Bale's brilliant pass.
https://twitter.com/Destaquito2/status/1026991313609261056
Bale himself managed to add a second goal for Real minutes later, which proved to be the decisive one as Kevin Strootman halved Roma's deficit shortly before half-time.
https://twitter.com/JuveGIFs/status/1026994460176146435
Real begin their league campaign at home to Getafe on August 19. Four days prior to that, they will hope to defend their European Super Cup title when they taken on city rivals Atletico Madrid in Tallinn.
Bale has put in a series of impressive showings in preseason this summer. Having been
linked with a move to Manchester United at the end of last season, there's now a growing sense that he can become the main man for the European champions following Cristiano Ronaldo's departure to Juventus.
