Villas-Boas admits Bale could be sold

Andre Villas-Boas refused to rule out the sale of Tottenham winger Gareth Bale after his match-winning performance against Liverpool.

The Portuguese boss lavished praise on his winger after the 2-1 win at White Hart Lane before suggesting the 23-year-old would have his suitors and it would be difficult for the club to keep hold of him.

“At the moment he is performing extremely well for Spurs and we are amazed at what he can do for us. He is on to a great career,” Villas-Boas told reporters.

“Obviously Tottenham as a football club want to keep him here for as long as we can but we understand players like this have propositions and a market which is the nature of the game.”

In a sensational opening 30 minutes, the Welsh international assisted Aaron Lennon’s opener by beating two players near the halfway line and careering towards the penalty area, finally squaring for Lennon to tap in.

Soon after, he took his tally for the season to seven after deceiving Pepe Reina with the flight of his free kick – the work of a technique modelled on Cristiano Ronaldo.

And Villas-Boas could see the similarities in the comparisons between the two stars, adding: “Players learn through what they see. With Ronaldo we saw that you can almost hit under the ball and it gains an effect where it drops and changes direction.

“He [Bale] has the power to do that. He keeps on practising this technique and we are pleased to have it.”

Meanwhile, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has branded the performance of referee Phil Dowd as ’embarrassing’.

Rodgers believes his side ‘never got the rub of the green’ from Dowd, pointing to the ‘assault’ on Steven Gerrard by Mousa Dembele and insisting the Clint Dempsey dived to win the free kick which led to Tottenham’s second goal.

“We never got the rub of the green,” Rodgers told Sky Sports News.

“It was a little embarrassing. [We had] two clear penalties. [Dembele] on Steven Gerrard was bordering on assault, never mind a tackle. It was frightening how we got never the penalty for that. Then Luis Suarez got kicked by William Gallas.

“Then, for the second [Tottenham] goal, the player dived. Clint Dempsey falls over without any contact. So, everything that went against us – decisions and what not – I just really want to concentrate on my players. They were brilliant tonight.”

He added in the post-match press conference afterwards: “They say it evens itself out over the season, so if that’s true we’re going to get a hell of a lot of decisions in the second half of the season.”