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Wales Online
Wales Online
Sport
Ian Mitchelmore

Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho takes swipe at Real Madrid after Gareth Bale makes himself the hero

Jose Mourinho has taken a cheeky swipe at Real Madrid following Gareth Bale's winner for Tottenham against Brighton.

Tariq Lamptey cancelled out Harry Kane's opener as the points looked destined to be shared in north London.

Bale was summoned from the bench with 20 minutes of the game remaining.

And the Welshman headed home his first Spurs goal in seven years and 166 days just three minutes after entering the pitch to earn his side all three points.

Victory lifted Tottenham up to second in the table, and, speaking after the match, Mourinho could not resist having a dig at Bale's parent club Madrid.

"I'm very pleased for him, especially for him because he deserves that," said the Portuguese.

"When I have five minutes I'm going to Safari to look at Madrid websites to see what they say."

It comes after the Spanish media wasted no time in revelling in Bale's unfortunate second Tottenham debut against West Ham, with Spurs blowing a three-goal advantage against David Moyes' men last month as the Welshman made his first appearance since re-joining the club.

Discussing Bale, Mourinho went on to add: "He knows we care about him and we know he cares about us, the team and the club, Spurs. He's the perfect fit, he's very calm, very intelligent, he has good feelings.

"He had bad feelings before, because the training process was hard, and his body was suffering a little bit, but we gave him what he needs as a whole.

"I am speaking about sports science, medical, my assistants, the other players. I'm very pleased for him to score this winning goal.

"I told already for about a week or so, I'm saying he's improving. It's not just by watching him, the data supports our training process. We knew. The good thing is Gareth also knows. We share ideas and share feelings.

"He doesn't have 90 minutes of a Premier League match in his legs yet so we're using the Europa League to complement his training process.

"We are using some matches in the Premier League when we decide to play him and the normal tendency for him will be of course to be better and better and better.

"I always will have this care with him until we feel that he's ready."

Bale's goal against Brighton was his first at any level since he netted for Real Madrid against Unionistas in January.

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