Star Tottenham Hotspur striker Gareth Bale will have to see the second leg match against Inter Milan from stands coz of his diving practices which ultimately offered him a ban for the next match. He is banned for his diving into the box in retaliation to a challenge from Walter Gargano in the first half of first leg match between two teams. This is not the first time, he has been shown a yellow card for his diving habit; perhaps he has also been booked for same reason in two group matches against NK Maribor and Panathinaikos which has now increased his yellow cards’ count to six off late. Bale is in brilliant form this season and has scored 11 goals in last nine played matches. First leg match was won by Tottenham thanks to Bale’s brilliant fifth minute header that gave his club a much important initial lead at White Hart Lane. Bale could have easily completed his hat trick if he could take advantage of few missed chances. Tottenham were in control of the game so it did really not matter if Bale completed his hat trick or not. Last time he scored a hat trick was back in 2010 when both these teams met in the Champions League.
He gave an interview after the match where he said, “We played well and set the tempo from first whistle. We immediately made it difficult for them, it was a great performance and a worthy result to be honest. It’s always nice to get a goal however it comes and I’m enjoying playing. It was a great performance and we take a great lead into the away leg with no away goals for them.”
While on the other side, Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas takes this suspension as a good thing for his team citing it would be helpful for them if they qualify for latter stages of the Europa League. He said, “It’s difficult but with this result, if he hadn’t have got the card, it would not have cleared him. We took a risk, obviously, but we have talent throughout the squad.
“We have now allowed Gareth to clean his yellow cards and hopefully we can make it through.
“Gareth will obviously be a great miss. But had we known we’d get this result we would have asked him to get the yellow card to be clean and to be ready for the last eight.
“It’s not finished but we are in a good position.
“Gareth has been influential in consecutive games but hopefully we can make it without him and go through to the last eight.”