The stat which proves Bale's critics wrong
They say he doesn't contribute, or he doesn't understand the game... On top of his injury problems, since arriving in Madrid, Gareth Bale has had plenty of critics and doubters with regard to his quality.
Bale has been an important player in Champions League and cup finals and his figures are there for everyone to see. Although it's true he hasn't played as much as a player of his quality should do because of constant injuries, he does enough when he is available to prove all his critics wrong.
In fact, there's one stat which demonstrates Bale's quality whilst perhaps highlighting his team-mates' shortcomings: he is the player who has provided the most assists for Real Madrid so far this season.
With his outside-of-the-boot cross to Borja Mayoral against Fuenlabrada, Bale overtook Isco (on four) and provided his fifth assist so far this campaign, and he hasn't even featured in half the minutes played because of his injuries.
Bale has played in just 10 of the 23 official matches up to this date (including UEFA and Spanish Super Cups, Champions League, La Liga and Copa del Rey) and he has assisted in five of them.
According to 'ProFootballDB', he set up his team-mates in the game against United in the UEFA Super Cup, Deportivo in La Liga, APOEL and Dortmund in the Champions League and now Fuenlabrada in the cup.
Bearing in mind that he has played in less than half of the total minutes this season (746 in total), the numbers suggest that Gareth Bale still has a big role to play at the Santiago Bernabeu.