Tottenham Hotspur fans were given a blast from the past on Saturday night as Gareth Bale stood side-by-side with former Spurs boss Jose Mourinho.
The curtain truly came down on the 2023-24 season on Saturday night.
Tottenham Hotspur’s campaign ended a couple of weeks ago, beating Sheffield United 3-0 at Bramall Lane.
The Champions League final took centre stage on Saturday though, giving Tottenham fans a reminder of where they were five years ago.
Spurs lost the 2019 final to Liverpool in a 2-0 defeat and Borussia Dortmund suffered the exact same fate at the hands of Real Madrid.
The cream of the crop in Europe is exactly where Ange Postecoglou wants to be, but that will take time – and a few transfer windows – if it is going to materialise.
Gareth Bale and Jose Mourinho reunite
For now, the Champions League is something Tottenham fans either have to look forward to or look back upon.
Two former Tottenham men with stories Champions League history were at Wembley as Gareth Bale and Jose Mourinho were on punditry duty for TNT Sports.
Bale turned in some memorable Champions League displays for Tottenham – spare a thought for Maicon here – before achieving the ultimate glory with Real.
Mourinho won the Champions League with Porto and Inter Milan too, so the pair know a thing or two about success in Europe’s top competition.
The 2020-21 season saw Bale and Mourinho join forces at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium having missed each other by mere months at Real in 2013.
Bale hit 10 goals and three assists in 27 games under Mourinho at Spurs, returning to North London for just one season before heading back to Spain.
The pair were back together again for the Champions League final and shared some thoughts about their time together at Tottenham.
Mourinho on Bale at Tottenham
Speaking on TNT Sports, Bale praised Mourinho, suggesting that his relationship with Moruinho was very good and that he always wanted to work under ‘The Special One’.
Mourinho did though feel that the Covid-era was ‘not football’, admitting his dislike of the empty stadiums during that period.
Mourinho then joked that Bale was already thinking about a potential golf career during his Tottenham return, though the Welshman played down any chance of him winning the Masters.
“That was not football! Covid, empty stadiums, that was not football! It was not football,” said Mourinho.
“Yeah, it was difficult – that’s why I started drinking coffee, to get that adrenaline going! I loved working with Jose. Something I always wanted to do was work with him and, yeah, it was only for a short period of time and it was at the end of my career, obviously not in my prime, but the relationship we had was very good and yeah, I loved working with him,” said Bale.
Mourinho joked, “At that time, he was already thinking about winning Augusta!”, with Bale somewhat playing it down by saying “Playing Augusta maybe, not winning!”
Mourinho may not have particularly fond memories of his time at Tottenham, especially in the way that it ended.
Bale clearly still has a decent relationship with Mourinho though and Spurs fans will be watching with interest as Mourinho prepares to take charge of Turkish side Fenerbahce in his latest managerial role.
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