Gareth Bale came on, got whistled and helped make a goal, in that order. There was no forgiveness, although some of the anger slowly subsided, but there was football – and that is something.
The Welshman made his first appearance for
Real Madrid for seven weeks, five days after provoking fury by celebrating his country’s qualification for Euro 2020 behind a banner that read “Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order”, and did so with a reminder that he still has a part to play. He might prefer
golf, as the joke goes, but he’s better at football.