Jose Mourinho has said at his latest press conference, which was broadcast on Hayters TV, that he would like to give Gareth Bale 90 minutes for Tottenham Hotspur.
Bale has been in brilliant form of late, but Mourinho has tended to substitute him off in the latter stages of matches.
The Spurs boss admitted after Bale scored twice in Tottenham’s 4-1 win over Crystal Palace at the weekend, that he simply cannot take any risks over the winger’s fitness.
As a result Mourinho was consistently asking Bale how much longer he felt he could last on the pitch, while the game was going on.
And even fourth official Andre Marriner was having a good laugh at the conversation they were involved in.
“I want to keep the momentum going but I need to manage him,” Mourinho said.
“The communication is very good and I believe he trusts me. In this moment we are deciding together what to do.
“The other day during the match I found Andre Marriner the fourth official was laughing at us because probably he found it funny my conversation with Bale during the match.
“We were saying how many more? Five minutes more, 10 minutes more? He was laughing a bit.
“He’s playing very well. The relationship with him is very good I think and of course I would like him to play 90 minutes in every game but he can’t.”
Mourinho’s comments do throw into doubt Bale’s involvement on Thursday evening.
Tottenham are set to take on Dinamo Zagreb in the Europa League tomorrow, and while Spurs have taken the competition seriously they surely won’t want to risk Bale’s fitness ahead of the North London derby at the weekend.
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