Spurs receive Bale boost

Tottenham winger Gareth Bale is likely to start for his side against Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday.

Bale’s presence was confirmed by his manager, Harry Redknapp, at a press conference on Monday, as Spurs prepare to visit the Santiago Bernabeu.

There are question marks over the fitness of defender William Gallas, but Redknapp is hoping a training session will prove that he too is ready to play in Madrid.

“Yeah (Bale) is fine,” Redknapp said. “He’s going to train tonight and if he has no problems he’ll play.”

“Gareth Bale gives us everything. He gives us goals and he gives us a fantastic pace and the ability to turn defence into attack very quickly.”

“Gallas will train. We’re hoping he’ll be fit.”

Redknapp is hoping Real’s surprising 1-0 home defeat to Sporting Gijon on Saturday will trigger a bad week for the club.

Amazingly, the loss was the first defeat suffered at home by Jose Mourinho in nine years, stretching back all the way to his time at Porto.

“We often go home on a Saturday after losing at home and he hasn’t done it for nine years,” Redknapp said.

“So now he knows how the rest of us feel. Hopefully, it will be a bad week.”

The Spurs boss admitted that no one expected his side to make the last eight, but is confident his side can challenge the La Liga giants.

“I don’t feel any pressure tomorrow. The only pressure is that we play well. Nobody expected us to be here, let’s be honest. We have to play well tomorrow. We’re not just coming here to turn up,” Redknapp said.

“The dream is still there for us and we want to make that dream come true and go all the way. We feel we can give anyone a game. Maybe Real Madrid are favourites but we come here very confident and very optimistic we can do the job.”

The winner of the quarter-final will face either Barcelona or Shakhtar Donetsk in the semi-finals.