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GRAMareth Bale scored the first goal of his second coming to send Tottenham Hotspur to second place in the Premier League opening table and overshadow what had threatened to become a Graham Scott refereeing horror show.
Bale’s last goal for Spurs had secured him victory over Sunderland in the last minute of the final game of the 2012-13 season and seven years and 166 days later, he was the winner of the match again.
Tottenham needed inspiration when manager José Mourinho sent Bale with 20 minutes to go and the loaned forward provided a header from Sergio Reguilón. Unbelievably, it was his first Premier League goal as a substitute.
“It’s a great feeling,” Bale said. “I just want to go in and do a job for the team. You want to make an impact. I was lucky to get the goal, so I’m very happy.
“(We can be) very competitive. We don’t have to get too carried away. We know that it is a long season and there are many teams. We have to keep working hard and we will start from there ”.
Mourinho hit Bale’s old club and he, who had given the player a discreet farewell, saying: “When I have five minutes, I will go to the Madrid website to see what they say.
“I am very happy with Gareth because he deserves it (the goal). Great personality, great impact. He knows we care about him and I think he’s a perfect fit. Very calm, very intelligent. “
Mourinho made nine changes from the team that suffered a shocking Europa League loss to Royal Antwerp as they sought a better performance.
The Portuguese got one in the first 15 minutes, during which Tottenham went ahead, when, having already survived a scare after Erik Lamela almost found Harry Kane, the hosts received a penalty from VAR.
Referee Scott had aimed a free kick on the edge of the area after Adam Lallana collided with Kane. But the VAR decided that a foul had been committed within the Brighton area, even though it appeared that Kane had backtracked towards Lallana and sent the midfielder overhead.
Kane stepped up to score his sixth goal of the season, having also scored eight assists, and at that point he would have bet on the Spurs extending their lead before the break.
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