THE VITALS:

Team: Real Madrid

Brand: Adidas

Era: 2018-19 (Used for the 2018-19 La Liga season)

Name/Number: Bale #11

CONDITION: EXCELLENT

This rare gem of a shirt comes to you in excellent condition as it soon closes in on half a decade of life! There is however some small pulling to the material to be mindful of however, the crest, embroidery and respective applications are in nothing but fine standing!

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Small

Pit to Pit Measurement: 19 inches

Shirt Length: 26.5 inches 

Made by Adidas in their ‘ClimaLite’ range of shirts they introduced in 2018; the dimensions of this shirt are an almost perfect size small fitting shirt!

DESCRIPTION:

Adidas have long enjoyed making a dark change strip to compliment Real Madrid’s famous white home colours, and they ensured that the decade of the 2010’s would conclude with another; albeit, with a slight twist as the colour was not quite fully black, but rather a shade of navy that from a distance could be mistaken for black, while charcoal was used for the first time to colour the accents! While all three of Real Madrid’s shirts that season were carved using Adidas’ seasonal template for 2018-19, the away shirt was somewhat of an anomaly as it featured the much lesser used of all of Adidas’ templates that season! While the 2018-19 season was one of transition for the club, however, this shirt will be memorable for when it was used as Real Madrid defeated Ajax 2-1 in the 1^st Leg of their Last 16 tie in the UEFA Champions League, as well as the epic 4-2 win vs Celta in the league!

THE SEASON:

The 2017-18 season would conclude with Real Madrid accomplishing the mythical ‘3-Peat’ as they won their 3^rd successive UEFA Champions League trophy; nobody however, could have foreseen that both, Cristiano Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane would both moving on from the club in wake of the triumph! Faced with this predicament, Real moved in quickly to swoop in for Jolen Lopetegui ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, however, the clubs announcement of his appointment led to him being dismissed from his post as the national team coach just days ahead of ‘La Roja’s adventure in Russia!

The pre-season would be dominated with the news of Ronaldo’s move to Juventus, however, Real would maintain their recent transfer strategy of moving in for prospects they could mould over ‘Galacticos’ and arriving were the likes of: Federico Valverde, Vinicius Junior, Alvaro Odriozola and the returning Mariano Diaz; there would however be a €35 million outlay reserved for Thibaut Courtois as they procured the Belgian goalkeeper from Chelsea. Leaving would be the series of raw talents that included: Achraf Hakimi, Borja Mayoral, Theo Hernandez as well as Mateo Kovacic, who after 2 seasons failed to carve his niche at the club.

The new regime began with 4 wins in their opening 5 games with Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale shining in front of goal, however, a disastrous Autumn would have the writing on the wall for Lopetegui, who was eventually relived from his duties as the club’s team manager on October 30^th, and in his placed stepped Santi Solari. The Argentine had a respectable spell at the helm as he racked up 12 wins in La Liga from the 17 he oversaw; however, when Zinedine Zidane answered the ‘Bat-Call’, Solari would have to make way for the returning ‘Zizou’ who would guide the club to second successive 3^rd place finish.

Elsewhere, the previous incumbents would have probably fared better however, Real Madrid would lose a first UEFA Super Cup since 2000, even more damming, the defeat came to Atletico Madrid. In the Copa del Rey, ‘Los Blancos’ would reach the semi-final for the first time since 2014, however, the series of quickfire defeats to Barcelona would contribute to Santi Solari’s demise. Lastly, Real Madrid would relinquish their iron-grip of the UEFA Champions League to Ajax in the Round of 16 in almost miraculous circumstances. There would still be the saving grace of the FIFA Club World Championship which the team won for the 3^rd time of asking when they outclassed Al-Ain 4-1 in the final!

The notable players that season were:

Vinicius Junior, Mariano Diaz, Karim Benzema, Marco Asensio, Lucas Vasquez, Gareth Bale, Isco, Luka Modric, Marcos Llorente, Toni Kroos, Casemiro, Dani Ceballos, Federico Valverde , Dani Carvajal, Marcelo, Alvaro Odriozola, Nacho, Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane, Sergio Reguilon, Thibaut Courtois, Keylor Navas, Kiko Casilla