Real Madrid kicked off their preseason campaign against Barcelona on Saturday night in Las Vegas – they could have done with Gareth Bale’s scoring touch. West of the desert, the Welsh forward scored his first goal for Los Angeles FC.
There has been no shortage of amusing hijinks from the LAFC social media towards Real Madrid, with Bale asking fans to attend a game in Spanish two weeks ago. He was regularly criticised for his lack of Spanish in Madrid.
Bale made his debut off the bench last week and came on with 25 minutes to go this time as LAFC led Sporting Kansas City 1-0. In the 83rd minute, Los Angeles got its first taste of Bale’s clinical left foot.
While it is easy to draw conclusions following a fraught end to his Real Madrid spell, it is notable how much more at ease Bale appears in the United States of America.