Gareth Bale. Frank Worrall
they could beat one of the teams who had already qualified in their own backyard, surely they could see off the challenge of a fellow qualifying hopeful in the play-offs?
Plus Benfica had beaten Aston Villa 4-1 the previous Saturday, so they were certainly no mugs.
Gareth was ‘very pleased’ with his performance and that the club had won the Eusébio Cup – named after the club’s most famous player ever, the brilliant Eusébio da Silva Ferreira – by beating the Portuguese giants.
Boss Redknapp had not been as pleased that his team were facing their sixth pre-season match. He called the fixtures pile-up ‘crazy’ and had pointed to ‘pre-season fatigue’ as being one of the reasons Spurs had crashed 4-1 at home to Villarreal in the previous friendly, just five days before the match in Lisbon.
But at least he was smiling after lifting the Eusébio Cup. Redknapp said: ‘It was a good performance, Bale and Luka Modric were excellent down the left in the first half and Jermaine Jenas passed the ball well. It’s now a case of trying to get everyone fit and strengthen the squad if I can.’
Gareth had made two key contributions before his goal. In the first minute he sent Giovani Dos Santos away down the left flank, but the Mexican blew the opportunity. Then Gareth set up Peter Crouch with a fine cross – only for the big hitman’s goal to be controversially disallowed for offside.
Dos Santos later made amends for his earlier howler by setting Gareth up for the winning goal on the hour. His cute back-heel giving Bale an easy chance to score from just 10 yards out.
There were now 11 days to go before the start of the season – and the big Premier League kick-off. Redknapp, his assistant manager Kevin Bond and first team coach Joe Jordan now stepped up the ante in training. Each day would be harder and more stamina-building as the three men pushed the players to maximum fitness and tried to build up their stamina. The intensity left several of the players gasping for breath, but Gareth Bale was not one of them.
A naturally fit, lean and energetic young man, he roared through the sessions and was one of the few who stayed out on the pitch for more work-outs and practice after the management team called time at the club’s training ground in Chigwell, Essex.
By Saturday August 14, Gareth was like a prize fighter who had been locked away training in the mountains for weeks – and who could not wait to get in the ring to work off the pent-up energy. He was truly ready to go to work and the fixture list computer had certainly thrown up a tantalising opener.
Spurs would begin their campaign against the team that had become their biggest rival for that fourth Champions League spot…yes, the club bankrolled by the Arab sheiks’ oil money, Manchester City.
The clubs had met just three months earlier in the vital Premier League clash at Eastlands that would decide which of them headed into the Champions League. Spurs had kept their nerve and outplayed the City millionaires, winning 1-0 to secure the Champions League spot that could bring a potential £40 million jackpot. Peter Crouch had headed home the late winner.
City’s directors had applauded politely at the final whistle but disappointment and anger lay behind their rigid grins. City boss Roberto Mancini had been brought in specifically to ensure the Sky Blues made it into the Champions League, and his failure led to many pundits doubting whether he would survive the summer. He was given a reprieve – but on the strict understanding that any subsequently similar failure would lead to his dismissal.
So there was much resting on that first fixture of the new season. Mancini knew he could not afford to lose – there would be no gradual easing into the new campaign for him and his under-pressure team. And Harry Redknapp and Bale and the boys wanted a good result to put down a marker for the season.
Given the heightened stress and pressure, it was hardly a surprise that the match should fizzle out to a 0-0 draw. But Italian Mancini certainly owed a debt to his goalkeeper Joe Hart. The newly-installed England No. 1 (after the World Cup debacle that had seen England crash 4-1 to Germany in the last 16) made a string of top-notch saves in the White Hart Lane sunshine.
The big stopper denied Jermain Defoe, Tom Huddlestone, Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Roman Pavlyuchenko. Inevitably perhaps, the only man who had the beating of him on the day was Bale, but the Welshman’s left foot shot rebounded agonisingly off the post to safety.
Gareth gave City’s Micah Richards the runaround throughout the 90 minutes, and could have had a penalty at one stage when the big right-back floored him in the box. Gareth was also the villain of the day when he fluffed an easy chance when one on one with Hart a few minutes before the final whistle. But, a Spurs dressing room source told me: ‘No one made a big deal of it afterwards. OK, it would have won us the three points but the way Hart was thwarting us we never looked like breaking through – and don’t forget that the chance fell on Gareth’s right foot. If it had been his left, the boss would have been moaning like mad!’
Gareth was disappointed afterwards – he felt Spurs should have got off to a winning start – and the dressing room was a rather muted, frustrating place. Boss Redknapp was also convinced it was two points lost although he had the grace to congratulate Hart on his heroics: ‘Sometimes you can play that well and still not get a result. We did everything that we’d worked on. We moved the ball about with great style and you can’t ask for more than that. We couldn’t get the breakthrough but their keeper had a fantastic game, which was good for the England manager and good for England.’
But bad for Tottenham, as they aimed to show from the start of the campaign that their fourth place finish the previous season had been no fluke. They were handed a swift opportunity to show what they were made of three days later, when they travelled to Switzerland for another key match, the first leg of their Champions League qualifier – against Young Boys on their controversial Astroturf pitch.
Once again, the result was not the signal of intent Redknapp had demanded, his side going down 3-2 on the night. But it could have been a lot worse as Gareth and co were trailing 3-0 after half an hour in Bern – and Redknapp was pleased at least by the fighting qualities of his team.
The Spurs Odyssey fans’ website summed up the night brilliantly, saying: ‘The travelling army of Spurs fans thought they were in Bern to witness a historic Spurs debut in the Champions League, but after half an hour must have thought they had taken a wrong turning to Disneyland. By that time Spurs were three down to a rampaging Young Boys team, who looked like scoring a hatful more goals against a defence that looked like Bambi on Ice, never mind the Astroturf.’
Spurs were run ragged on the hosts’ plastic pitch but the two goals they scored – courtesy of Bassong and Pavyluchenko – meant they were still very much in the tie and that their dream of making the Champions League proper was still very much alive.
Gareth’s corner set up Bassong for Spurs’ first goal, three minutes before the break, and Pavyluchenko grabbed the vital second seven minutes from time.
Gareth was a relieved man in the dressing room after the match. He knew Spurs had got away with it; that they were somehow still in with a chance of realising their Champions League dream despite struggling with the icy conditions and the Astroturf.
Redknapp summed up his feelings when he said: ‘That was a great defeat if there is such a thing. At 3-0 we were staring down the barrel. We were in desperate trouble. We didn’t look happy on the surface, we were not confident in our play. It was a great goal from Pavlyuchenko to put us back in the tie, though otherwise he had a very quiet night. He can do that.
‘I had a nasty feeling about the game. I watched the players train on the pitch and watched them feel not happy about this and that. It’s not an excuse but I played on Astroturf myself and hated every minute of it. I don’t agree with Astroturf and I don’t think Astroturf should be used in a competition like this. Jermain Defoe and Luka Modric have both picked up strains and are doubtful for the weekend. Young Boys started the game excellently. They pressed us. We couldn’t get to grips with holding the ball. We didn’t look sure of ourselves and suddenly we were almost out of the tie.
‘It