Before Gareth Bale's world record £85m transfer to Real Madrid last summer he had really found his feet for Tottenham Hotspur. At this time last year he was enjoying the best patch of form of his career and in a dominant Spurs display against Inter Milan it is no wonder that the Spanish giants upped their keen interest in the player.
Before the Europa League first leg against Inter on this day in 2013, Bale was on 49 goals for the London club in all competitions and had scored 10 in his previous nine games for club and country. Although Inter were not having a great season in Serie A, they were still a European giant and Spurs would need Bale in top form if they were to take an advantage into the away leg the following week.
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This game was a rerun of the Champions League knockout tie between the two sides in the 2010-11 season. In that year there was another Bale masterclass, but although Spurs won the return leg 3-1 their 3-0 defeat in the San Siro put paid to their chances of qualifying. Here, they were at home first and were looking for a good win to take to Italy.
It was a strong Spurs lineup, although as he had typically done throughout the season Andre Villas-Boas selected a few new faces in his XI for the cup competitions. Brad Friedel, rather than Hugo Lloris, was in goal, while Gylfi Sigurdsson started, but there was no place in the XI for Lewis Holtby. The decision to play Sigurdsson was justified after 90 minutes as he, along with Bale, impressed in a dominant display for the hosts.
Indeed the two combined to get Spurs off to the perfect start with a goal after just six minutes. It was Sigurdsson's cross from the left that allowed Bale to sneak in and glance a header low into the net. That was goal number 50 for his club for Bale, but the excellent side of the winger was shortly followed by the bad. The Welshman was shown a yellow card by referee Antonio Lahoz after going down easily under a challenge from Walter Gargano.
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The dominant start from Spurs continued and just after the 15-minute mark they were two ahead and this time Sigurdsson was the scorer. Moussa Dembele sent Aaron Lennon away down the right, and his cross was sent goalwards by Jermain Defoe, who had just returned from injury. His effort was saved but there was the roaming Icelander to tap in the rebound. Spurs had a real chance of reaching the quarter-finals with this sort of showing.
Crosses were coming into the box from all angles and Spurs could have been more ahead by the break as both Jan Vertonghen and Bale went close. At the other end Ricardo Alvarez chipped wide after being found by Antonio Cassano and had it been 2-1 at the break it would have been flattering for Inter. Instead, Spurs scored the crucial third goal after the break when Vertonghen headed in from a Bale corner.
With 13 shots on target to Inter's two, Spurs could easily have won by more than the 3-0 margin, but the victory put them in with an excellent chance of qualifying and, importantly, they did not concede an away goal. That was to come in play with the away leg. Inter won the 90 minutes at the San Siro 3-0, but with Emmanuel Adebayor and Alvarez scoring in extra time it was the English side who went through on away goals.
Matt Domm
