BALE REACHES 100 MADRID GOALS

Gareth Bale has hit a milestoine in his Real Madrid career having scored 100 goals in all competitions for Real Madrid in more games than it took Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema to reach the same tally. The Wales star reached a century for the club in Saturday’s LaLiga derby against Atletico Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano.

The 29-year-old completed a formidable attacking trio along with Ronaldo and Benzema and they helped Madrid to 12 major trophies, including four Champions Leagues in five seasons, before their talisman, Ronaldo left for Juventus last year.

Bale who secured his tranfer from Tottenham in 2013 for a record fee of €100 million scored a century of goals in all competition for madrid in his 217th appearance for the club. Ronaldo who is Madrid’s all time leading scorer reached 100 goals in just 105appearances for the club.

Benzema, meanwhile, needed 210 games to score 100 times, giving him a slightly better strike rate than Bale. Bale is Madrid’s 21st player to reach the milestone, his latest goal drawing him level with Fernando Morientes and just four behind Brazil great Ronaldo in the club’s all-time standings.

Bale has scored 75 of his goals in LaLiga for Madrid, with 16 coming in the Champions League, six in the Club World Cup and just two in the Copa del Rey, one of which was a stunning solo goal in the 2014 final win over Barca.

He has scored 70 times with his left foot, 11 with his right and 19 with his head. Thirteen of his goals have been scored from outside the box, with four coming directly from free-kicks, while only three have been penalties.