Tottenham were able to secure a massive advantage in the first leg of the Europa league encounter against the Italian club Inter Milan due to the presence of Gareth Bale. However, the Welshman winger will be suspended for the return leg after receiving a booking for diving.
Bale scored in the 3-0 win over Inter Milan that puts the English club in a great position to progress to the quarter-final stage. This is the fourth time Bale has been booked for diving. The Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas refused to criticise the decision taken by the referee. However, he has said that it is actually a good thing that they will not be available for the second leg.
Villas-Boas has said that this yellow card cleans the slate for the latter stages of the competition. Bale has been one of the impressive players for Tottenham. He has scored 11 goals in his last nine matches for the club, which have led to comparisons with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Bale has been linked with all the major clubs from Europe over the last few months. Villas-Boas also acknowledged that while they are in a strong position, they are not in the quarter-finals yet. The latest odds show that the Premier League are slim favourites to win the tie.
“With this result we would have asked him to get a yellow card to be clean for the last eight. We are in a good position but it is not finished, so we will miss Gareth. He has been influential in consecutive games but hopefully we can make it without him. He is a tremendous player, so obviously he is going to be missed, but an opportunity might arise for another player. It is a difficult decision for the ref,” said the Tottenham manager. Sigurdsson and Vertonghen were the other scorers for Tottenham on the night.