Gareth Bale scored as Real Madrid beat Tottenham 2-0 in the Semi-Final of the Audi Cup.
Playing against his former club for the first time since swapping White Hart Lane for the Bernabeu in a £85m transfer, the Welshman struck with a long range effort late in the second half.
James Rodriguez had given Madrid the lead, and the Spaniards will now go on to tomorrow’s final to face either hosts Bayern Munich or AC Milan.
For Mauricio Pochettino’s men, they will now face the loser of that tie in the competition’s third/fourth play-off match, less than 72 hours before Saturday’s Premier League curtain-raiser.
The Tottenham boss would’ve been buoyed by injuries to Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema in the build-up to the match, and the Argentinian’s side began with a spring in their step.
Compatriot Erik Lamela – starting his first game of pre-season – enjoyed Spurs’ best chance of the game just two minutes in after he was picked out by the resurgent Kyle Walker, but the former Roma man’s rustiness showed as his effort skied over the goal.
At the other end, Jese rattled the bar from a tight angle after latching on to a clever through ball, before forcing Michael Vorm into a very smart save minutes later as he continued to pose a much larger threat in the opening perioud than the largely anonymous Bale – who much of the pre-game build up was based around.
The former Tottenham man did finally get an attempt at goal on the half-hour mark as he outjumped Kevin Wimmer from a Rodriguez corner, but the Welshman’s header flashed wide of goal.
Another ex-Spurs player Luka Modric then almost got lucky six minutes later when his deflected shot almost looped in beyond the misfooted Vorm, but the Dutchman recovered to make a last ditch save off the line.
The former Swansea man could do nothing to stop the eventual opener however – courtesy of Colombian Rodriguez who headed into Vorm’s bottom-right corner from six yards after Jese’s inswinging cross.
Pochettino responded by introducing Nacer Chadli, Nabil Bentaleb and Jan Vertonghen at half-time, but the changes didn’t have the desired effect as Los Galacticos continued the aggressors – despite making a number of changes themselves.
Harry Kane’s long-range curler on the hour mark was as good as it got for Spurs in the second period as Madrid’s youngsters were more than capable of keeping possession, much to the enjoyment of the onlooking Pep Guardiola whose Bayern Munich side took time out of preparations for their game later in the evening to watch the closing stages unfold.
Bale’s effort 12 minutes from time would’ve been one that the former Barcelona manger is all too familiar with as the winger advanced with the ball before unleashing a venomous dipping shot from outside the box, but stand-in goalkeeper Vorm will be dissapointed that he was unable to keep the 26-year-old’s effort out.
The goal was nothing less than what the Spaniards deserved, however, and aslong as any such errors dont become a regular occurence whilst Hugo Lloris remains sidelined, Pochettino will remained pleased at getting another ninety minutes under his team’s belt.
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