Gareth - The Birth

Most of the time, you witness the birth of a star through a powerful telescope pointed towards the sky. Sometimes, however, you just have to be in the right stadium at the right time. And even when they were the opposition's colours, sometimes you just have to sit back and admire it.

On 20 October 2010, the European champions welcomed Tottenham to San Siro. Inter's Champions League campaign was already heading in the right direction: a draw away to Twente in the opener had been followed by a Samuel Eto'o masterclass against Werder Bremen, with the Cameroonian scoring a hat-trick, Sneijder adding a fourth and Eto'o taking home the match ball. Against Tottenham, things went even better. Zanetti opened the scoring after just two minutes, before Gomes brought down Biabiany in the seventh: a red card for the goalkeeper and a penalty, converted by Eto'o. Stankovic made it three with a strike from outside the box in the 14th minute, and shortly after the half-hour mark Eto'o struck again for 4-0. Four goals inside the opening half, with Tottenham down to ten men. Maicon and Coutinho both went close to adding a fifth before Inter, understandably, eased off.

Then, early in the second half, Gareth Bale collected the ball inside his own half. The left-back, who was also used further forward when required, appeared to be starting a routine attack. It quickly became anything but. Bale accelerated away from Zanetti, then left Maicon behind too. Reaching the edge of the area, he drifted wide before Samuel arrived to confront him, only for the Welshman to unleash a left-footed drive that flew into the bottom corner. 4-1.

Inter shut the game down and nothing more happened until the 90th minute. Then, after Lucio stepped out too early, Bale was released down the left once again. Another burst of pace, another shot struck with astonishing power, and the ball ended up in exactly the same corner as the first. There was barely time to process the scoreline at 4-2, or even work out how much added time remained, before it happened again. This time Bale at least had the ball played to him rather than doing everything himself. The bottom-left corner of Julio Cesar's net was beginning to show signs of wear. 4-3. Another magnificent finish. Another Gareth Bale goal. A hat-trick.

What followed was an extraordinary decade for the Welshman. Permanently pushed further forward, he went on to lift the Champions League five times with Real Madrid before retiring at the age of just 33, following a brief return to Tottenham and a final season in Los Angeles. Bale had already been one of the youngest debutants in Premier League history, but his career truly announced itself on an October night at San Siro, when he came within a whisker of taking down the European champions almost single-handedly.