Bale - Spurs can progress

Spurs youngster aiming to make Champions League impact

Last updated: 28th August 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Bale - Spurs can progress

Bale: On form

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Gareth Bale is looking forward to Tottenham's first season in the UEFA Champions League and insists Harry Redknapp's side can reach the knockout stages.

Spurs were handed a tricky group as they will face holders Inter Milan, German side Werder Bremen and Eredivisie champions FC Twente, but Bale believes his side have the talent to counter their inexperience.

"We are all looking forward to playing against these big teams and testing ourselves," he told The Guardian.

"It's a very exciting time. But there's no reason why we can't progress into the knockout round.

"We've got good players and a good manager, and the home crowd get behind us 100 per cent.

"White Hart Lane has become a little fortress for us. We're not in the competition just to make up the numbers. We want to make a mark on it."

Recovery

Welsh winger Bale has made a dramatic recovery after a torrid start to his White Hart Lane career.

The 21-year-old made a good first impression joining Spurs from Southampton, but then suffered a serious ankle ligament injury in late 2007 that ruled him out for several months.

After numerous setbacks Bale struggled for form in the opening few months of last season, which put him firmly behind Benoit Essou-Ekotto in the pecking order at White Hart Lane.

However, when the Cameroon international suffered a hip injury Bale received another chance at first-team football, and has been a feature of Redknapp's side ever since, often playing in a more advanced role.

Bale added: "It was frustrating being injured and not playing; any footballer will tell you that. It was just about being injury free and getting a run in the team. [I thought] if I keep playing then I will start performing and my confidence will go up.

"I definitely needed to toughen up but that just comes with growing up. I'm still quite young."

"This has been the first time you've really seen me as a player, playing all of the time. It's being able to show what I can do. I was given my chance and I'd like to say I took it."