It was a moment Welsh football had been dreading for what felt like an age, a long-looming inevitability that a nation had put to the back of its mind for fear that it might actually become true.
And yet when it finally arrived, Gareth Bale’s announcement of his retirement still came as a shock of seismic proportions. This was a day Wales could see coming – just not this soon.
Speculation regarding Bale’s future had raged for years, dominating the final stages of his glittering career at Real Madrid and following him at the past two major tournaments with Wales.
Optimists clung to the fact that he had departed the World Cup with the vow that he would “keep going as long as I can and as long as I’m wanted”. Some dreamed that he might even have carried on forever; there were times when he did seem immortal.
But there is no escaping time. While 33 might be a relatively young age to retire, Bale had been showing signs of slowing as his body bore the toll of a superhuman 17-year career.
Logic suggested this day would come but, then again, Bale had kept defying logic to conjure moments of magic even as he appeared to be losing some of his powers of old.
His retirement marks the end not only for arguably the finest player Wales has ever produced, but also the beginning of the end for the greatest era in the country’s footballing history.
Bale elevated Wales to new heights, embodying his nation’s rise from lowly underachievers to major tournament regulars.
In doing so, he transcended his sport, a phenomenal athlete whose global renown brought Wales to the world’s attention.
To quantify such an impact is a near-impossible task and, although boiling Bale’s career down to numbers and achievements is reductive, they bear repeating.
Real Madrid made him the world’s most expensive footballer when they bought him from Tottenham for £85m in 2013 and, during nine years in Spain, he scored more than 100 goals on his way to helping Real win a staggering five Champions League and three La Liga titles.
His trophy cabinet also includes a plethora of individual accolades, such as two PFA Player of the Year awards and the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year.
Then there is Bale’s peerless Wales career, ending as his country’s all-time leading male scorer with 41 goals from 111 appearances, another national men’s record.
Impressive as all those feats are, though, they are only part of Bale’s story. You had to watch him in action to truly appreciate his brilliance.
Bale was more than the leading character in a film of his blockbuster career; he was the man who kept writing his own barely plausible scripts and, most stunningly of all, kept bringing them to life with displays of otherworldly powers.
To rewatch showreels of his goals for Tottenham is to be mesmerised by a heady cocktail of supreme athleticism, mazy dribbling and outlandish long-distance shooting.
At Real Madrid, his goals were as awe-inspiring as they were important, from the audacious run from his own half in the 2014 Copa del Rey final win over Barcelona to the jaw-dropping overhead kick against Liverpool that clinched victory in the 2018 Champions League final, one of the greatest goals in the competition’s history. [BBC]