Bacary Sagna knew he was going to be in for tough game and he put in a good, solid display. Very rarely did Bale go on one of his trademark runs and this was largely down to the French right-back.
Throughout the game whenever Bale got control of the ball Sagna was there, hard in the tackle to rough him up. He did commit several fouls and this disrupted the play a little which didn’t help either side.
It was obvious that this was his game plan and it did limit Bale’s success down the left wing however Sagna was very cautious, maybe too much so as he never really bombed down the line himself which he did very well against England in mid-week.
He was more focused on stopping Bale than causing a threat himself but the comeback began after Bale switched over to the right and latched onto the ball and two touches later, the ball was nestled in the back of the net.
This was one of the 21 year old’s tougher tests for sure but still he came out on top largely because of how he penned Sagna back and his crucial goal gave his team hope.
This is a close one but I feel Gareth Bale edges it.
