The return against Werder Bremen exploded into life at the Lane just four days after Harry’s boys had won at the Emirates. There had been fears among the fans that Spurs might struggle after the mammoth shift they put in to beat Arsenal. Would they be too fatigued to raise their game – even though it was a crunch Champions League clash? Would they struggle against the Germans who had rested some of their players before the match?
There were even doubts if the two stars of the show at the Emirates – Bale and Van der Vaart – would even start the match. It was revealed that Gareth had suffered a hurt shoulder against the Gunners and Van der Vaart missed training the day before the Bremen game to have a scan on his ankle.
In the event, Gareth would make it and Van der Vaart would miss out through injury. Much to Redknapp’s relief, Gareth reported fit on the day of the game and Spurs ran out worthy 3-0 winners over the team they had opened their Champions League group account with in Germany in September.
It was certainly another very eventful night for Bale. He missed a penalty and hit the woodwork twice, but could still afford to smile as his team moved smoothly and easily into the last 16 of the competition.
They advanced thanks to an opening goal from Younes Kaboul, a cracker by Modric and a late third from Peter Crouch. Gareth flunked his penalty just before the hour mark. Modric had been played into the box but found himself upended by defender Felix Kroos. But Gareth’s subsequent penalty was well saved by keeper Tim Weise, who had represented the German national team and was one of Bremen’s few successes on a torrid night in North London.
For Spurs, it represented more misery from the spot – it was their third miss of the season so far after Pavlyuchenko and Van der Vaart had also messed up.
The Sun’s Shaun Custis astutely summed up the evolution of this Tottenham team as their season now started to take shape: ‘Tottenham have grown from Young Boys into men. Back in August, there were real fears Spurs’ Champions League campaign would end in humiliation. They were 3-0 down to the Swiss side, Young Boys of Berne, inside the first half-hour and faced being knocked out of the competition in the preliminary round. ‘But that tie was turned round in dramatic fashion and Harry Redknapp’s side have not looked back to such an extent they have now cruised into the knockout phase with a game to spare.’
Redknapp was beaming after his team had marched into the next round. He was pleased that his backline had kept a clean sheet – their first for three months and 18 games. And he even managed a joke when asked about Gareth’s penalty miss, saying: ‘So Gareth missed a penalty – well, at least now we’ve found something he’s not good at…he’s only human after all!’
A Spurs source told me that Gareth also managed to see the funny side of it after the initial disappointment had sunk in. ‘He did eventually smile and laugh about it in the dressing room when the other lads cheered him up. They told him not to worry about it, that it was nothing worth worrying about given the emphatic result. He’s a perfectionist and hates getting things wrong. It was preying on his mind, but the lads soon brought him round, taking the mickey and slapping him on the back.
‘Then, after they’d heard Harry say it showed Gareth was only human after all, they all started chanting, “Gareth’s only human, Gareth’s only human, Gareth’s only human!” He can be a serious lad and it’s good for him that there are a few jokers in the camp – like JD [Defoe] and Gomes.’
Gareth was confident that the team could now go into the last 16 with real hope. ‘He would love to win it,’ the source continued. ‘It’s what he got into football for in the first place, to play in the biggest competitions and to win silverware. He always knew the chances of winning anything with the Welsh national team was remote, so it is doubly important to him that he lifts trophies at club level.’
Harry Redknapp was also ebullient. A few days earlier he had tipped his team as potential Premier League champs – now he roared that they could lift the Champions League, too. He said: ‘I’m trying not to get too carried away but I love Champions League football and every year I’ve always gone to watch games at Arsenal, Chelsea – but to be part of it is something else. ‘We’ve played some great attacking football. We’re a match for any team in this competition. I believe so much in what this squad can achieve. Once the players start believing how good they are, there’s no limit to what they can do.’
And they were starting to believe how good they were. That was one of the beauties of Redknapp as a football manager – he instilled belief in his players, much in the same way as Sir Alex Ferguson did. Certainly, Gareth had improved under his tutelage and become a more confident person and player. ‘Harry was constantly on at him that he could be one of the best players in the world,’ says a Spurs source. ‘He told him he had everything – all he had to do was harness it all together and he would make it. He was on at him for months and months and finally it all just seemed to start to click, with the results evident to everyone in the two games against Inter Milan.’
After beating Bremen, Harry once again boosted Gareth’s burgeoning confidence levels by paying tribute to the way he had terrorised the Germans down that left flank. He purred: ‘Gareth Bale could play anywhere along with Luka Modric and there are a few of them. Aaron [Lennon] is starting to go past people, which is want we want him to do, but some of the crosses Gareth put in tonight on the run were amazing. It was a bit like when we played Inter with their right-back.
‘We had reports about how good Bremen’s right-back was, how he likes to get forward and trouble people but Gareth gave him a torrid time again.’ The poor victim, Bremen right-back Clemens Fritz, would certainly not disagree with that assessment.
The boss was also constantly nagging at Gareth and the team as a unit to write their names in the history books. He kept telling them they were talented enough to make history as did the brilliant Spurs side of the early Sixties. His work as a Mr Motivator-style figure was paying dividends as the team now attacked the season on the top two fronts – the Premier League and the Champions League. He told his men that their triumphs could continue – reminding them that they had been without prolific scorer Defoe for the previous seven weeks because of his ankle injury. With Jermain back in the team, why should they now fall apart?
Harry said: ‘He has been so keen to come back after his ankle operation. He has returned quicker than expected and, hopefully, will set White Hart Lane alight whether he starts or comes off the bench. I’m sure he will have a big impact.
‘He is important for us. If he can come in now and go on a run for us, it would be fantastic. I would love him to get eight, nine, 10 goals in the next 15 games or so. That would be a result. The stage is set for him. Defoe looks as if he is back to his best. He can take us forward and could push us right into the title race and who knows what in Europe.
‘I have never worked with a more single-minded goal-scorer than Defoe. He has always been like that. But then that’s what great goalscorers do – focus. Greavsie did it. Lineker was like that. I can see a bit of Ian Wright in him as well.’
The fans hoped Harry was right – certainly they were right behind him, Gareth and the boys, all dreaming that they would eventually win one of the major trophies. Hopefully that season.
The team had the next day off to recover in anticipation of the home match against Liverpool the following Sunday (just four days after Bremen). The games were coming thick and fast and it was important they didn’t get burnt out – rest was as vital as training.
It was revealed in the days in between the two matches that Harry might be chosen as the boss of the Great Britain team for the 2012 Olympics (in London) – and Gareth immediately made it clear that he would love to play for the gaffer if it came off. Gareth said: ‘The Olympics would be a great opportunity for a young player like me to play in a major tournament as part of a Great Britain team. I’m Welsh and we all know Wales don’t tend to qualify for too many of the big occasions.’
Also, Manchester United fans made it clear that, should Spurs ever want to cash in on their best player, that Gareth Bale would be the player they would most like to see at Old Trafford. A fans’ poll revealed that 23 per cent wanted Baley with Wesley Sneijder of Inter Milan in second place on 18 per cent.
Then Gareth himself spoke out about his hopes for the campaign. He said he could see Spurs winning something if everything went to plan – and also made the incredible claim that he was not at his speed peak yet after it was revealed he had raced down the wing at 19mph as Spurs beat Inter Milan at White Hart Lane.
Gareth said: ‘You work on things in training and, with confidence, it gives you that extra bit of zip, so yeah, I’m faster than I was before – and, with luck, I can get quicker.’
But he told the Daily Mirror that he did not want people to start comparing him to Ryan Giggs – despite the obvious similarities between the two Welsh geniuses. Gareth said: ‘I don’t want to be thought of as “the new Ryan Giggs”. I want to be thought of as my own person. He’s a great man and a great player, but everyone wants to be thought of as their own man and their own player. It’s true that I always used to watch Ryan when I was younger – as he was Welsh and left-footed. He was someone I always used to look out for and used to watch when he played for Wales. Ryan’s one of the best players playing in the Premier League.’
And he reiterated his belief that he did not need to leave White Hart Lane to achieve his ambitions: ‘I don’t think about anything like that, to be honest. I’m just happy playing at Tottenham. We’ve got a good squad and hopefully we can achieve a few things.
‘The Champions League is important to everybody, including myself, I enjoy playing in it. I think we want to test ourselves against the best players and the best teams in the world.’
Just before the home clash with Liverpool, Gareth received a further double boost when it was disclosed that he had made the shortlist for the FIFA/FIFPro World XI – and another former Spurs hero, Gary Lineker used the occasion to say he believed Gareth was well on the way to becoming a legend himself at White Hart Lane. If he could make the team itself it would be some achievement. It wouldn’t be easy: he was joined in the list by ten members of Spain’s victorious World Cup squad and 16 of the best players from the Premier League. The list had been compiled from the votes of 50,000 professional footballers from across the world – which served to show just how revered the boy from Wales was on the planet as a whole, never mind England, Wales and Europe.
He would be competing for a place in defence – as an attacking fullback. This was the glittering list of defenders Gareth was among at the back end of 2010: Daniel Alves (Brazil, Barcelona), Gareth Bale (Wales, Tottenham), Michel Bastos (Brazil, Lyon), Ashley Cole (England, Chelsea), Patrice Evra (France, Manchester United), Rio Ferdinand (England, Manchester United), Philipp Lahm (Germany, Bayern Munich), Lucio (Brazil, Inter), Maicon (Brazil, Inter), Marcelo (Brazil, Real Madrid), Alessandro Nesta (Italy, AC Milan), Pepe (Portugal, Real Madrid), Gerard Pique (Spain, Barcelona), Carlos Puyol (Spain, Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Spain, Real Madrid), Walter Samuel (Argentina, Inter), John Terry (England, Chelsea), Thiago Silva (Brazil, Milan), Nemanja Vidic (Serbia, Manchester United), Javier Zanetti (Argentina, Inter).
He would have to beat off the challenge of the likes of Evra, Cole and Lahm for the left-back role when the final FIFA/FIFPro World XI was confirmed at FIFA’s Ballon d’Or gala in Zurich on January 10. But who would have seriously bet against him at that stage of the campaign?
Definitely not Gary Lineker. He said he was confident Gareth would become one of the greatest players in the world – and could that it as part of a ‘great Spurs side.’ Lineker, who spent three years at White Hart Lane as a striker, said of Spurs as a team: ‘They are doing brilliantly. They need to be a bit more resilient and stronger but they have the potential to become one of the great Spurs sides if they can make themselves a little harder to penetrate.
‘It’s their first go in the Champions League and they have set the competition alight in their attitude and the way they’ve played. They have got a lot of qualities, they have a terrific squad and a big squad, a lot of good players and I think Harry [Redknapp] is right that they are two or three short of challenging for honours.’
Lineker, who was speaking at Wembley Stadium at the launch of the venue for the Champions League final in May, then said of Gareth: ‘Bale could be potentially a truly great player. He can do it all. He can run all day and he’s quick, which is an unusual combination, he’s powerful, his delivery is very precise, he takes all the dead balls, got a wonderful left foot, he’s competitive, works hard - and seems to have a good head on his shoulders.
‘If he’s fortunate to avoid injury he could be one of the world’s best.’
And after the plaudits, it was back to business, as Gareth and his team-mates prepared for the arrival of Liverpool at White Hart Lane on Sunday 28 November. Kop boss Roy Hodgson knew his team would have their work cut out. Before the match, he announced his admiration for the work Redknapp had done at the Lane – and for the talent of men like Baley and Modric. Hodgson said: ‘Wins are hard to come by against the top teams and we have to admit that Tottenham are no longer the Tottenham of old. They are a top team. It is an expensively assembled side and we are not playing against mugs any more.
‘One defeat in eight is a good run at any stage of the season. We have to be happy with that but we are not stupid. We know that if you go to Tottenham it could be two defeats in nine.’
Gareth would have agreed with that assessment. And with influential skipper Steven Gerrard missing for the visitors, he was confident Spurs would have enough in the tank to win. He said: ‘I like to think if we are fully on our game, we can beat any team in the world. I think if we go into the game against Liverpool with the attitude we had in the second half against Arsenal, there’s no reason we can’t beat them.
‘Gerrard missing is good for us because he’s a great player. Roy Hodgson hasn’t been there long, but he’s making his mark and they’re improving as a team, so we know it’s going to be difficult.’
It was a turnaround in fortunes: Spurs, on the back of a three-match winning run, were now expected to dispose of a team who, a couple of seasons earlier, had been universally recognised as one of the ‘big four’. Now Tottenham had replaced them in the Premier League elite and Liverpool’s rocky early form under Hodgson did not suggest they would pull off a shock at the Lane. Even the Merseysiders’ traditional dominance – this would be the 135th league meeting between the clubs and Liverpool had 63 victories, compared to Tottenham’s 37 – could not change the bookies’ minds. No, Spurs were favourites and should take all three points.
On the day of the match Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish joined in the debate about how to stop Gareth. He admitted it would be a big ask for Liverpool – but that it was essential if they were to get anything from the match. Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Dalglish said: ‘To stop wingers, you try to show them the side which is your best and where they aren’t as strong. Unfortunately for Liverpool, Gareth Bale hasn’t got a weakness. Show him the inside and he’ll sprint down the outside; and vice-versa. That is why teams double up against him and Liverpool do have the personnel to do that. Glen Johnson is one of the quickest defenders around and it’ll be quite a sprint down the touchline between them. ‘If Bale cuts inside, a workhorse like Dirk Kuyt will be there to try to block him. For Kuyt, Lucas and Christian Poulsen, if he plays at White Hart Lane today, it is also important to cut out the service to Bale in the first place.’
Dalglish had taken the place of Gary Lineker as the paper’s star guest columnist and was proving an inspired ‘buy’. His words had much wisdom, but Liverpool were unable to translate them into action, much as they tried.
Bale drove forward throughout the match and at times left Glen Johnson dizzy. Even when the Kop boys doubled up on the Welsh winger it was to little effect – apart from ending up in the ref’s notebook. Raul Meireles was booked midway through the half for bringing Gareth down as he headed for goal once again.
Yet it was Liverpool who had taken the lead just before the break when Martin Skrtel fired them ahead. The Slovakian centre-back then turned from hero to villain (at least in his fans’ eyes) when he put through his own goal after 65 minutes.
Now it was all Tottenham and they should have sewn up the points before Aaron Lennon finally put the game to bed with his injury-time winner. Jermain Defoe missed from the spot after Gareth had won a penalty. Gareth’s subsequent free kick was strong and accurate – maybe too accurate and worrying for David Ngog in the defensive wall…he blocked it with his hands. Unfortunately, Jermain was unable to end the continuing, depressing Spurs penalty jinx.
Lennon’s winner was certainly welcome to him from a personal point of view: it was his first goal in a year, since the 9-1 demolition of Wigan the previous November. And the way the team fought back from behind – yet again Manchester United-style – brought words of praise from the boss. Redknapp said: ‘That was a great comeback. We started slow then came into it. Roy Hodgson has got Liverpool playing well and they had good movement up front. But we got on top in the second half and had chances.
‘We have the belief we can come from behind. We have attacking players, so we’ll get chances. You can’t write us off. Whether it’s Gareth Bale, Lennon, Modric or the front players, we’ve got attacking players all over the pitch. We’re always in with a chance, even at 1-0 down. It’s a case of sticking them away.’
And Defoe admitted there was some truth in my assertion that Spurs were becoming the new Manchester United with their never-say-die spirit. He conceded that he and the team were now happy to emulate United if it continued to bring results.
The striker had seen the determination and will-to-win mentality of the United players while on England duty, and said it had rubbed off on him. Defoe said: ‘I remember when I first got into the England squad. All my mates would ask me what training was like.
‘I used to say, “You know what, it’s mad, because the Manchester United players, the likes of Rio, Phil Neville, Gary Neville, Becks, in little five-a-sides, they want to win every game. And if they don’t win they are moaning”.
‘Gary Neville never stopped. It was amazing. We would train and in the evening they were still talking about it.
‘It didn’t matter what game they were playing in, they wanted to win. I think that’s a great thing to have and it’s important we have that. When you’re a kid, you can find that funny because it’s about development and not always about the result. I always want to win, though. I’m a forward, I’m a goalscorer and I always moan anyway.
‘But it was interesting to see such a winning mentality.’
The boss was less pleased at the fact that Jermain had become the fourth Spurs player to miss a penalty in the season so far. He added: ‘Jermain takes them in training and rattles them into the corners. I was hoping he’d score and I was happy with him taking it. Gareth took one and missed. Crouchy, not really. Aaron, no.
‘Where do you find a penalty taker? It might be an idea for the ref just to give a goal-kick. You could do with someone just smashing it down the middle, putting their boot behind it.’
The win crowned a fab week for Gareth, pushing Spurs up to fifth in the table. I am told he celebrated that night by watching The X Factor, with his girlfriend and a Chinese takeaway. This was a boy who liked the simple life – a modern footballer who was living the dream, who lived and trained like a continental star rather than some of the beer-swilling, lecherous modern-day footballers who were staining the name of the British game.
The players now finally had a few days’ break before the next match. Snow and bad weather cut short training and the lads worked in the gym and indoors. There were serious doubts whether the next match, the Premier League clash at Birmingham would even go ahead.
It did, which meant a rather scary trek on the team coach through the snow-hit roads from London to the Midlands for Gareth and Co.
Brum boss Alex McLeish promised to make things even tenser on the pitch for Bale – saying his very own ‘beast’ would be lying in wait for him. It was none other than former Spurs full-back Stephen Carr, whom McLeish had rescued from the scrapheap when he was freed by Newcastle. Carr had repaid him by turning in some fine performances – and McLeish was confident he would be able to deal with the threat of Bale.
The Brum boss said: ‘Stevie trains like a beast, he plays like a beast. I like to see players training the way they play on a Saturday. We have that kind of ethic at this club and Stevie typifies that. He’s been a revelation. ‘Bale’s a great player. You do try to deal with the supply, but also when Bale goes off on his runs, you can’t leave one-on-one exposure. We saw the Inter Milan game and he ran from the halfway line and I saw a very naive defender fly in when he should’ve backed off – that was just pure bad defending. I’d like to think our defenders aren’t as naive as the Inter Milan guy was.’
Carr had been a popular lad while at White Hart Lane. But could he stand up to Gareth’s pace and dribbling skills? Now 34, he had featured in less than 80 games in four years. McLeish was convinced he was up to the task: ‘He’s looking like a young guy, he’s like a sprinter. Sometimes you see a fullback going forward and they have to get a taxi to get back. But Stevie Carr is right back in as soon as he’s mounted an attack. His recovery levels are fantastic.
‘When you get players like that on free transfers then you’re all doing the club a service. Guys like Stevie go through brick walls to win you games.’
And on the day itself, Carr did not disgrace himself. He even earned a cheer from the travelling Spurs fans, in tribute to his excellent 11 years’ service at the club from 1993 to 2004. Gareth had a fairly quiet match – by his now massively high expectations – and that was partly down to the evergreen Carr.
The match ended 1-1 after Craig Gardner’s late equaliser cancelled out Sebastien Bassong’s early opener to earn a point for Brum. Gareth was instrumental in the goal, sending in a free kick that Brum keeper Ben Foster flapped at, allowing Bassong in for the headed goal.
Carr earned some accolades for his ‘job’ on Bale, but was typically modest when asked how it felt to have been the man who temporarily curbed the flying winger. Carr was keen to praise the men in front of him for their help – but also told the Birmingham Mail that Gareth reminded him of Ryan Giggs.
He said: ‘It’s what you get in front of you that helps you. I got help from the front and it helped. Bale’s going to be an unbelievable player in the future and he’s already having a great season. I’ve played against some great players and he’s up there.
‘It’s his pace and the way he runs at you. He’s like an old-school winger as well. Ryan Giggs used to always get the ball and run at you. Bale just goes at you too. I thought I did OK but I had a lot of help from in front.’
I was told Gareth was a little subdued on the journey back to London. He had a snooze and listened to his iPod as he contemplated his afternoon’s work. It had not been his greatest day at the office, but he had done OK, being involved in the goal and working hard for the team.
Fortunately, there wasn’t much time for Gareth to brood about a one-off average day. After a few days’ break in between matches, the schedule would now liven up again, with the final match in their Champions League group on the Tuesday, followed by the Premier League crunch on the Sunday against Chelsea.
Victory in Holland against FC Twente – or even matching Inter Milan’s result at Werder Bremen – would mean Tottenham had won the group in their first campaign in the competition. That would be a tremendous achievement for Harry, Gareth and the boys – and the boss promised that he would go all out with attack to try to do it.
Before the match, Gareth paid tribute to Harry, saying that he had helped toughen him up. He told how Harry had thrown down a gauntlet – ‘prove you’re good enough to be a first-team regular’ – and that he had thrown himself into doing so. Gareth said: ‘Looking back on some things, I think, “Wow”. A year ago, I didn’t think I would be doing stuff like that. But I don’t think I ever thought my future lay elsewhere. When I wasn’t playing, I went in to see the manager and to ask when was I going to be given my chance.
‘There were a lot of things the manager wanted me to do and there were certain aspects of my game I needed to improve on. He wanted me to toughen up as I was still a young boy at the time. So I worked hard in training to prove to him that I was worthy of a spot in the team.
‘He always said, “Be patient and keep working hard in training and you will get your chance”. So I was always confident, I just had to be ready to give 100 per cent when the chance came and I got my chance and never looked back. I have always had the belief in my own ability, so I knew if I trained hard and was patient, things would happen for me. If someone had said to me a year ago that I would one day be described as one of the best players in the Premier League and best left-sided players in the world, I wouldn’t have believed them.
‘But I try to keep myself away from what is written and said about me. I know there was a lot going on after the Inter Milan games and there was a lot of talk – but I switched off to that and concentrated on training. I must keep my feet on the ground to continue progressing, I must keep working hard, because hard work is the reason why I’ve had a good year.’
The good year would continue as Gareth helped Spurs to a 3-3 draw in Holland against FC Twente – a result that also confirmed them as winners of Group A after Inter crashed 3-0 in Bremen, and meant they would avoid the biggest guns in the next round (particularly Barcelona and Real Madrid).
Redknapp had outlined that he wanted to stay clear of the two Spanish giants in his pre-match press briefing, saying: ‘Yes, we want to finish top if we can. Inter Milan will go to Germany looking to win because that top position is important. Otherwise, it’s Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich.’
The match was feisty and certainly no walk in the park for the visitors – Twente were keen to avenge their 4-1 defeat at White Hart Lane back in September. They were also in form: since losing 1-0 at Inter Milan the previous month, Twente had won both of their Eredivisie fixtures, triumphing 4-2 at NEC before beating De Graafschap at home in the match before the arrival of Spurs.
The match was – and this was, of course, now becoming a typical feature of Spurs outings as Harry went for broke with wonderful attacking football – full of goals. It ended 3-3 and the visitors made the history books by becoming the first club to score two or more goals in every group game.
Luka Modric was missing through injury but Gareth and Defoe were supported by the impressive Jermaine Jenas in the creativity stakes. Three times Spurs forged ahead – with a crazy own goal and a brace from Defoe – and three times the determined Dutch drew level.
The first Tottenham goal was a freak, but welcome all the same. Keeper Sander Boschker misjudged a back pass and the ball dribbled cruelly past him into the net. It was reminiscent of Paul Robinson’s howler for England when Gary Neville passed the ball back to him in Croatia in October 2006.
Gareth played his part in getting the all-important point; after his low-key show at Brum, he was now all action, speed and trickery once again. He set Defoe up with two fine first-half crosses that the striker would normally have buried. But it was his cross early after the interval that led to Defoe’s first of the night. The Dutch defence failed to clear it, allowing Lennon in to take control and set up Jermain for his opener and Tottenham’s second.
The result meant that Spurs had netted 18 goals in their group games – more than anyone else in the competition. Sure, there had been some heartstopping moments on the way, but Harry was determined that his team would continue to attack and play with flair.
After the match he said: ‘We look to score and attack teams at every opportunity. We’ve got people who can hurt teams, that’s how we’ve approached the games. ‘We’ve gone for it, we have a go. At the end of the day, we’ve finished top of the group. You can’t say “well, they’ve conceded goals”; we’ve scored more goals than anybody. If you want us to shut up shop, we can do that and come away and be difficult to beat and stick five across the midfield. But we don’t; we come away and have a go. It’s a great achievement from the players to finish top of what for me was the most difficult group of the lot.
‘We’ve had a team near the top of the Dutch league, Werder Bremen, who are a good German side with lots of good players, and the holders Inter Milan. I think it was the toughest group and to top it is brilliant. We’ve got a good squad of players. We’ll give anybody a game.’
The Sun’s Paul Jiggins summed up the achievement – and how it had been achieved with such style when he said: ‘Tottenham lived up to their tag of “The Entertainers” as they roared into the last 16 as Group A winners. When it comes to goals, excitement and entertainment among Europe’s elite, there is no team quite like Harry Redknapp’s at the moment. In fact, you could say Spurs are just TWO good as they became the first club in the tournament’s history to score at least two goals in each of their group games.’
Gareth was delighted with his improved performance, the result and Harry’s statement of attacking intent as he boarded the flight back to England that night. ‘Yes, Gareth was really on a high,’ says a Spurs source. ‘It had all come right and the match sort of ended a little chapter in his life. It had been the Inter away match in the group stage that had propelled him to worldwide fame and acclaim – and now he and the team had completed the first stage by winning the group. He couldn’t stop beaming on the way home. He rang his parents and his girlfriend and told them it had been a great night – and that he was already dreaming of playing in the next round come next year.’
But the dreaming only lasted a day or two. Harry saw to that. Just as he had knocked Gareth into shape over the previous 12 months, he now brought him and his team-mates back down to earth during the next few days. There was no time for dreaming in the new, massively ambitious world of Tottenham Hotspur FC. Focus was what was needed now…especially with Premier League champions Chelsea due at the Lane the following Sunday. The result of that crunch match would go some way to gauging just how far Spurs had come – and how far Gareth had come. It was a showdown that he was anticipating with relish – another chance to show his worth against another of the giants of European football and one of Tottenham’s bitterest domestic rivals.
But before we assess Gareth’s input in that local ‘classico’ let’s take a look at his exploits at international level, with the Welsh national team.