Spurs out to prove Real deal

THERE must be something in the water in Madrid. How else to explain the fact that Harry Redknapp joined Jose Mourinho in an outbreak of honesty yesterday, forgetting the phoney war and ditching the mind games?

Both managers had spent the past week ruling most of their key players out of this mighty clash between Real Madrid and Tottenham at the Bernabeu, so that at one stage it looked like it was going to resemble a reserve team fixture rather than a Champions League quarter-final.

But on the eve of the game, shortly after Mourinho had shown his hand and revealed all his aces — Ronaldo, Marcelo, Angel di Maria — would be fit to face Spurs, Redknapp threw in his best hand too. Gareth Bale — check. William Gallas — check. Rafael Van der Vaart — of course he would play, returning on a mission of vengeance to the club that let him go far too cheaply to Tottenham last summer.

So it will two sides close to full strength, with neither manager concerned any longer about the sort of kidology we see before a heavyweight boxing bout.

Indeed, if you listen to Mourinho, his old friend Harry is right up there with the best of them, certainly capable of doing great things with England — possibly after taking Tottenham into uncharted waters.

Redknapp’s press conferences are as entertaining as the football his team plays, and yesterday was no exception. With the Spanish press still grumbling about Mourinho now that he does not look so special, as Barcelona prepare to wrap up their third successive La Liga title, they were ripe for the wit and wisdom of Redknapp, who rarely disappoints.

He was in playful mood, discussing his evening meal, taking up the goalless draw offered by one Spanish journalist, and generally playing the underdog with a puncher’s chance, as he has done all season in this competition.

And why not? Spurs have punched way above their weight so far, going toe to toe with the Milanese giants before beating Inter and knocking out AC Milan.

It has been enthralling so far, and you know that anything could happen. They have had to climb off the canvas a couple of times already, having gone 3-0 down to Young Boys of Bern and then rapidly shipping four goals to Inter inside 35 minutes, before being Baled out by the Welsh winger.

So Redknapp can go into tonight’s game with the same air of excitement and unpredictability, although he must have a sneaking suspicion that if Real turn it on, they could put the tie out of reach ahead of the second leg at White Hart Lane next week.

“We have not had it easy, far from it, but Madrid are the biggest test for us,” he said. “I always said we had the hardest qualifying group, but we beat Inter, the European champions and came out top. Then to get drawn against AC Milan, who are top of the Italian League, in the last 16 was as tough as it gets. But we beat them as well.”

Yet he knows Real pose a different level of challenge, one that only goes up if they were to get through to the semi-finals, where they would most likely meet Barcelona.

“The two Spanish sides in the competition are better than the Italians,” said Redknapp. “Whoever wins the Champions League is likely to have to get past them.”

Yet he believes Spurs can spring another surprise. “We have a great chance, of course we do. It is always 50-50 in football and who knows what will happen when that whistle goes? We feel we can give anybody a game.

“For sure, Real Madrid are favourites, but we come here very confident and optimistic that we can do the job. They have some really talented players but we will try to give them more problems than they give us.

“We have to make sure we start well, as we did against AC Milan when we played ourselves into it and eventually won the game.”

Bale should start, having trained in the evening, with Van der Vaart playing off Peter Crouch in attack.