Everton 5-4 Tottenham: Spurs boss Jose Mourinho 'surprised' by Gareth Bale’s injury complaint
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Updated 11/02/2021 at 08:56 GMT
Mourinho appeared to question the severity of Bale’s latest niggle, which ruled him out of Wednesday’s thrilling 5-4 extra-time defeat at Everton in the FA Cup fifth round. The Spurs head coach said he does not think it is an “obvious” injury, believing it is simply a case of the on-loan Real Madrid forward feeling “uncomfortable”.
Spurs boss Jose Mourinho and forward Gareth Bale
Image credit: Getty Images
Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho says he is “surprised” by Gareth Bale’s latest injury concern, which he has described as “not obvious”.
The on-loan Real Madrid forward was not involved in the 5-4 extra-time defeat at Everton in the fifth round of the FA Cup, with Mourinho appearing to suggest it was Bale who decided to focus on his recovery rather than the medical staff.
Having been an unused substitute for Sunday’s Premier League win over West Brom, Mourinho says Bale removed himself from training the following day.
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"Monday I was a bit surprised by him wanting to have a scan because he was not feeling comfortable”, said the Spurs head coach.
"He didn't train on Monday then on the Tuesday he trained with the team but I was informed his desire would be to work with the sports science for a couple of days to strengthen that area where he was not feeling comfortable.
That is the reason why he is not here. I don't think it is an obvious injury, I would say he feels uncomfortable and because of that training session he couldn't be 100 per cent.
Mourinho was pressed further on Bale’s absence and asked if he needs to play through the pain barrier, but he was reluctant to expand on the issue.
"Gareth was not here and the only thing I can say is the question I was asked," he said.
"I wanted to make it very clear the situation, which I am being completely open and honest about."
Harry Kane was once again among the goals following his return from injury, moving up to second on Spurs’ all-time goalscoring charts with 209, taking him above Bobby Smith but 57 behind leader Jimmy Greaves.
For Everton, the stunning win kept them in contention to collect a first trophy since 1995 and secured their first appearance in the quarter-finals since 2016.
Bernard, who was linked with a move away in the January transfer window, scored the winner, but there was a blow for the Toffees after Dominic Calvert-Lewin was forced off with a hamstring injury.
"Dominic is our main striker up there, he scored another great goal tonight but I thought the lads showed good character when he went off the pitch and we still got a goal," said assistant manager Duncan Ferguson.
"He was complaining about his hamstring when he came off so he may have tweaked that."
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