Gareth Bale will miss Tottenham Hotspur's Milan trip, Redknapp says

Posted Sunday, February 13, 2011 by theguardian.com

• Gareth Bale back healing but still a problem
• Harry Redknapp says Rafael van der Vaart should be fit

Gareth Bale will miss Tottenham Hotspur's Milan trip, Redknapp says
Gareth Bale's brilliant hat-trick against Inter announced his arrival on the European stage.

Gareth Bale will miss Tottenham Hotspur's trip to Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday because of a back problem, Harry Redknapp said after the 2-1 win at Sunderland.

Bale, who scored a memorable hat-trick at San Siro against Internazionale in the group stage of the competition, has missed Tottenham's past four matches after suffering back spasms.

"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," Redknapp said.

"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."

Redknapp said Rafael van der Vaart should be fit for the first leg of the last 16 tie against the seven-times European champions despite him also missing the Sunderland victory.

The Dutchman came off at half-time during the win over Bolton Wanderers last weekend with a calf strain.

Between them, Bale and Van der Vaart have scored six goals in Tottenham's impressive first campaign in the Champions League. The midfielder Luka Modric is also a doubt for Tottenham after having his appendix removed last week.