After an excruciating summer, Real Madrid bought the Premier League player of the year Gareth Bale from Tottenham Hotspur for a world-record fee of £85.3 million. Today, Bale made his debut against Villarreal, who surprisingly were kind of thumping Madrid for much of the first half and took a 1-0 lead 21 minutes in.
But seven minutes before the break, Madrid defender Daniel Carvajal got to Villarreal's endline and played a ball across the face of goal. Bale was able to get inside of his defender, beat everyone to the ball, and tap home the easy finish.
Bale demanded such a large fee because in addition to scoring tons of great goals last year for Spurs, he scored a lot of important ones. His goal shifted momentum into Madrid's favor somewhat, and in the second half, Cristiano Ronaldo scored to put their side ahead, 2-1. They led until Mexican winger Giovani dos Santos just scored to level the score with about 20 minutes to play.
Bale was subbed off for Ángel di María in the 62nd minute.