Harry Redknapp has
ruled
Gareth Bale out of
Tottenham’s
Champions League tie
against AC Milan on Tuesday.
The Wales international has not featured for two weeks after being
sidelined with a back injury and any recovery in time for the
last-16 first-leg encounter has been written off by Redknapp.
The Tottenham manager has also hinted Peter Crouch could miss the
trip to Milan as the striker is suffering a similar problem to
Bale.
Rafael van der Vaart, however, is expected to fully recover from a
calf injury in time for Tuesday after failing to feature in his
side’s 2-1 win over Sunderland on Saturday.
"Gareth is not too far away. He's not going to be fit, I don't
think, for Tuesday, but he's not too bad," said Redknapp.
"The specialists have seen it, he's had an epidural injection.
Peter Crouch has had the same problem and he is fine - in fact, his
back looked a lot worse on the scan.
"He shouldn't be too long, but Tuesday may be just a bit too soon
for him. But Van der Vaart should be okay."
The potential loss of Bale is a major blow for Tottenham’s European
ambitions and Redknapp believes his winger would have replicated
his performances from the group stage.
"You saw what Gareth did against Inter Milan, when he terrorised
them, and that would be in their minds an awful lot, I'm sure,”
said Redknapp.
"Everybody in Italy talks about Bale - I went over and watched a
game and everyone was asking me: 'Is Bale fit?' He would scare them
to death."
Redknapp has praised Tottenham’s form ahead of the match at San
Siro, although AC Milan will enter the encounter fresh off the back
of Saturday’s 4-0 rout over Parma.
"It's great to go there on the back of three [Premier League]
victories," he added.
"It's going to be a tough ask to make the top four again this year,
there's six teams pushing for it. But I think we've got a good
chance."
Tottenham’s latest victory came at the Stadium of Light on Saturday
as they came from behind to secure three points over
Sunderland.
Niko Kranjcar continued his match-winning trend from last Saturday
against Bolton to net Tottenham’s second after the interval.
Harry Redknapp revealed the Croatian was the subject of a bid from
Bundesliga side Werder Bremen in the January transfer window, but
the Spurs boss was reluctant to let his midfielder move.
"He spends time practising his shooting after training, and it pays
off for him - it's not luck,” said Redknapp.
"He works hard and he's got great technique. We had an offer of
seven to eight million for him from Werder Bremen in the transfer
window, but I didn't want him to leave."
Redknapp appeared angry with centre-back William Gallas after the
Frenchman needed to change his boots early in the game and whilst
on the sidelines, Asamoah Gyan put Sunderland ahead.
"Gallas had an injection in his ankle before the game and they
bandaged his ankle. He was in pain and felt his boots were too
tight," said Redknapp.
"I wasn't best pleased, and we were lucky we came back and
won."
