Scoring a goal in the Champions League final is something we've all dreamed about at some point or other in our lives, the pinnacle of fanciful day-dreaming and make-believe in the park as children. 

So to actually do so - with a bicycle kick no less - is almost beyond comprehension for us mere mortals. 

Then again, for Gareth Bale it is just another stunning feat to add to an already extensive list of strikes better suited to the Louvre than the Kiev Olympic Stadium.

It stands the test of time, too. His bicycle kick just three minutes after replacing Isco in the second half in Kiev was a thing of beauty; pure reactionary brilliance from a man who knows a thing or two about stunning goals.  

For Premier League fans of a certain generation, there aren't many better strikers of a ball, Bale hitting 55 Tottenham goals before departing for Real Madrid, a fair few of them from well outside the box. 

Gareth Bale scored one of the most memorable goals in Champions League history in 2018

But arguably his greatest of all came in the 2018 Champions League final as Los Blancos sank Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool 3-1. 

That stunning overhead thunderbolt was in fact so, well, thunderous, that we almost forget he also netted from 40 yards 20 minutes later, admittedly via a dreadful save attempt from Loris Karius. 

What makes his bicycle kick that much better is the fact that Bale had to actually fish for Marcelo's cross which was delivered a few feet behind him.

Who better then to open up on that which we've all aspired to - the transcendental feeling of scoring an absolute worldie on the biggest stage of them all - than the man himself.

'It's one of the greatest feelings!' Bale says of perhaps his crowning moment, although a certain 30-yard free-kick against England at Euro 2016 might run it a close second.

'It's why you play football. You watch these goals when you're a kid, watching big finals, big games, and you always dream of them when you're in the park. You think you're in the Champions League final against your friends and you score the winning goal, we've all dreamed it. 

'So especially to make that a reality, is something that is difficult to describe, but it's so rewarding. 

'You've worked all your life for moments like that and to be able to deliver when it meant the most was extremely satisfying, and it just reminds you why you do all the hard work.'

One man who will be looking to cement himself in Champions League history in similar fashion with Real Madrid is Jude Bellingham, who has taken to life in the Spanish capital like a fish to water. 

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A young man who prided himself on his ability to play as a No 8, No 4 and No 10 - hence his previous jersey No 22 - Bellingham has become the goal-scoring attacking midfielder that has powered Real to success in just his first term. 

Some 23 goals and 12 assists in all competitions in a debut season are some of the best first-term numbers put up by a Real rookie since Bale's 22 and 19 in 2013-14. 

Now though, the England star will face his toughest challenge yet, taking on his old club Borussia Dortmund for a chance to extend Real's already scarcely believable Champions League haul to 15, which would be more than double that of second-placed AC Milan (seven). 

'He's done fantastically well this season. It's not easy moving to a different country, even though, I guess he's had the experience of playing in Germany, but such a big club like Real Madrid the spotlight is really on and the intensity is really there. 

'He's had a fantastic first season. And I guess, like me in the first season, if you can win that Champions League, it's a great start to his career there.'

A great start it proved to be for Bale, with another four titles coming after before he left for LAFC at the end of 2021-22 with just the five to his name. 

At just 20 years old, and at the heart of a terrifyingly talented Real Madrid side built to crush their opponents into dust for the next decade, it seems as though there is little to stop Bellingham from at least equalling that tally. 

Bellingham can hardly have hoped for a better season at Real Madrid; a key part of the side almost from the get-go, a fan favourite, and a heap of both goals and silverware to boot. 

His rise to the top has been stratospheric in the extreme, and so it is fitting that the final hurdle between him and the cherry of all cherries on top should be an emotional reunion with the team that catapulted him into superstardom.

Bale was speaking at a question and answer session at the launch of Mastercard's Pledge Ball - a football made from recycled boots and engraved with promises to inspire collective action on sustainability ahead of the Champions League final.