Gareth Bale shines for Wales with brace in World Cup Qualifiers

Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale blew up the headlines on Thursday, after scoring a brilliant brace that brought Wales past Austria in the FIFA World Cup qualifying playoffs. What's interesting is that his stellar display came just days after he ruled himself out of El Clasico.

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti had initially included Bale in his lineup for the match against Barcelona last Sunday, but the player pulled out on Sunday morning blaming a mysterious "niggle." However, just days later he declared himself fit to play for Wales and was indeed impressive against Austria.

Bale showed off the form that was reminiscent of his glory days with Real Madrid, scoring the opener via a free-kick from 25 yards away. It was a masterful strike that scaled the Austrian wall before finding the top corner of the net.

He then doubled the lead in the second half before Austria scored a consolation goal. In the end, Bale's brace was enough to send Wales through to the play-off finals where they will face the winner between Scotland and Ukraine, which has been postponed for now.

The Welshman appeared completely fit despite having been absent for Real Madrid for most of the season. He has only made four appearances under Carlo Ancelotti, and was expected to have been given minutes during El Clasico in the absence of Karim Benzema due to injury.

However, his mind was clearly completely focused on Wales, and he said so himself in an interview quoted by Marca ahead of the match against Austria. "I'm solely focused on this game, this qualification. There's still a lot to play for and I'm not thinking about anything else at the moment," he said, adding: "This requires all my attention and all my focus, all my preparation over the last few months. I'm not thinking about anything else but the game and, after that, we'll go from there."

His words did not go over well with Real Madrid fans, who are not happy seeing the club pay a player who is completely focused on other things. Despite having won four Champions League titles with Los Blancos during his time at the Bernabeu, Bale has turned from a club legend to almost persona non grata over the years due to his open declaration of prioritising Wales and even golf over the Spanish giants. His contract expires at the end of the season, and it remains to be seen where he will go in the lead-up to the World Cup if Wales manage to qualify.