Top 5 Gareth Bale performances

#1 Milan vs Spurs

Will he ever produce a performance like this again?

In October of 2010, Spurs traveled to the San Siro to face the newly crowned European Champions. The side was a force to be reckoned with and fielded some of the finest players of the generation. In less than a minute, Inter were off the mark thanks to a brilliant goal from Javier Zanetti. The Inter captain found himself at the end of a beautiful attacking move and netted the ball in from 12 yards out.

Inter had once again turned the San Siro into hell and Spurs could do nothing about it. A few moments later, Wesley Sneijder bisected the right flank and sent Jonathan Bibiany sprinting towards goal. The Winger was then taken out by a desperate challenge by Heurelho Gomes and the Spurs first choice keeper was sent off for an early shower.

A delayed run up from Samuel Eto'o and a fantastic penalty meant that Spurs were now 2-0 down and reduced to 10 men. 13 minutes into the first half, Dejan Stankovic made it 3 with a brilliant fake and classy finish from the edge of the box. Inter had turned the fixture into a party and Spurs seemed clearly outclassed in Milan. To add insult to injury, Eto'o poked in his second, thanks to a lovely through ball from a young Coutinho and made it 4 on the night.

The Tottenham squad was perhaps longing for the final whistle, but a 21-year-old Bale had something else in mind. This was his chance to prove his mettel. He was up against perhaps the best defense in the continent and this was his opportunity to show the planet how good he was. The young Welshman began a run from his own half that saw him send the legendary Maicon for a spin and drive the Italians' defenders into a fit. Bale ran all the way into the box and managed to find the net from a fine angle beating Julio Cesar for the first time on the night.

The winger wasn't done yet. In fact, he wasn't even close. A pass down the flank gave Bale the opportunity to once again beat the legendary Zanetti for pace and let fly a shot that hit the inside of the side netting. It was Inter who couldn't wait for the whistle now, as Bale made it 2 for Tottenham with only stoppage time to go. A fantastic run from Aaron Lennon set Bale up for his third as he swung his left foot and found the left bottom corner. The former Southampton boy had just scored a hat trick against the best defense and perhaps the best team on the planet.

The game finished 4-3, with Inter bagging the 3 points, but what Bale had done to Inter will go down in history as one of the greatest individual performances by a player on a football pitch. His pace, passion, and fearlessness had paid off. Bale had turned the San Siro into his playground and ripped apart a legendary defense, taking the mic out of the best in the business.