Villas-Boas confirms Bale absence

Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas has confirmed star man Gareth Bale will miss their Europa League tie away to NK Maribor.

Bale’s girlfriend went into labour shortly before Spurs’ English Premier League match against Chelsea on Saturday, prompting the Wales international to pull out of the line-up at the last minute.

The couple’s first child was born later that day.

The north London side sit third in Group G of the Europa League and will have to do without the Wales international in Slovenia.

Villas-Boas stressed Bale will be back in the squad to face his former side Southampton in the league on Sunday.

“Gareth hasn’t travelled for family reasons. He’ll train at home to get ready for Southampton,” Villas-Boas said.

The former Porto and Chelsea coach revealed Moussa Dembele could be fit in time to face the Saints but a number of his fellow squad members remain on the sidelines.

“Dembele is slowly returning – (he is a) big possibility for Southampton,” he said.

“Scott (Parker) and (Younes) Kaboul are still recovering and Benoit (Assou-Ekotto) is still two weeks away.

“(Emmanuel) Adebayor has a pain in his back so he’s recovering. There’s not a lot of time to rest in the coming months so we need to be careful.”