Gareth Bale scored his sixth goal in La Liga this season against Espanyol on Saturday in his return from the nursery room after having surgery in his ankle at the end of last year. Gareth Bale is one of the most important players for Real Madrid and he’s making a difference this year. Apart from securing the victory, the goal meant the 100th net for a British player in La Liga for Real Madrid.
Gareth Bale arrived in the summer of 2013 to Real Madrid from Tottenham Hotspur. In this time, the Welshman scored crucial goals like the one in the Copa del Rey final, but he’s also very efficient in La Liga, a title that he has still to win. He has scored 53 goals so far, being the best season the last one, when he scored 19 goals.
???????? Gareth Bale's goal vs Espanyol was the ???? by a British player for Real Madrid in #LaLiga.
53-Bale
13-Cunningham/Beckham/Owen
8-McManaman pic.twitter.com/2LtWYsNcRD— LaLiga (@LaLigaEN) February 20, 2017
Bale is the best British player at Real Madrid. However, there are some other footballers who have shone with Los Blancos. We all have in mind David Beckham, who scored 13 goals with Real Madrid in La Liga from 2003 to 2007. Obviously, the free kicks were his strength.
The same number of goals scored Michael Owen. The former Liverpool player only stayed one season with Los Blancos, in 2014-15, and he was heavily criticized for the supporters. However he scored 13 goals in La Liga, having the highest ratio of goals scored to number of minutes played. He also scored one important goal in El Clásico against Barcelona.
Laurie Cunningham was the first British player to wear the white t-shirt in the modern era. He stayed in the club three season, from 1979 to 1983, and he was able to score 13 more goals. Finally, the eight goals remaining were scored by Steve McManaman. The former Liverpool player will be in all madridistas heart for his goal in the Champions League final of 2000. However, his best goal came against Oviedo in La Liga:
Goals scored by British footballer:
53 goals Gareth Bale
13 goals David Beckham, Laurie Cunningham and Michael Owen
8 Steven McManaman
