Tottenham Hotspur Get Mixed Injury News: Gareth Bale Fit To Face Madrid, Steven Pienaar Not

Tottenham Hotspurs’ injury woes have taken a fresh new twist with the news that South African winger Steven Pienaar has been ruled out of the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final clash with Real Madrid after aggravating a groin problem that’s been bothering him for several weeks. The midfielder broke the news via his Twitter account:

With both Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon nominally fit, Pienaar was not expected to start the match at the Santiago Bernabeu, but his absence does rob Tottenham of some vital depth, especially considering that Bale and Lennon aren’t exactly known for their durability. It’s currently unclear just how Harry Redknapp will deal with things if either one of his starting wingers does go down with an injury in the match on Tuesday.

“I think Gareth should be fit,” Redknapp said. “He has been out doing some work with us, did a bit with the fitness coach and trained at about 80%, so I see no reason why he wouldn’t be OK. It was just felt that if he played against Wigan [on Saturday] then he could stiffen up and he definitely wouldn’t play Tuesday.”

Bale had missed six weeks with a back injury earlier in the year and the 90 minutes he played against West Ham two weeks ago marked the first time that he went a full match since injuring his back. After that match, Bale went off with Wales only to injure his hamstring before even playing for his country.

Alan Hutton has added to Harry Redknapp’s injury concerns after the Tottenham Hotspur right back picked up a knee problem over the international break. Sky Sports is claiming that as a result the Scotland defender may face up to a month on the sidelines, which will only compound matters after several other Spurs defenders have been ruled out of the upcoming Champions League quarter-final matches against Real Madrid.

Hutton joins an injury list that currently features centre backs Ledley King, Jonathan Woodgate, William Gallas and Sebastian Bassong, as well as start winger Gareth Bale, who’s recovering from a hamstring issue. While Hutton may not be the best loved player on the team*, losing yet another defender in the middle of all of those injuries is a problem. Had Hutton been fit, Redknapp would have at least had the option of playing him at right back while using Vedran Corkula as an auxilary centre half, but he’ll have no such luck now. Forget the Real Madrid games - this is making Spurs’ visit to the DW Stadium on Saturday look scary!

The good news for fifth place Tottenham Hotspur and Harry Redknapp is that it looks like Welsh wonder-winger Gareth Bale may be fit to play against Real Madrid on Tuesday after picking up a hamstring injury over the international break. The bad news is that apparently absolutely nobody else will. Tottenham find themselves decimated by an injury crisis in defence that’s now taken William Gallas out of the picture, leaving them with just two fit centre backs - Michael Dawson and Sebastian Bassong. Harry Redknapp rather mournfully discussed the state of his defence (via the Guardian):

It was going to be difficult at best to compete with Real Madrid even with a fully-fit Spurs side, but with the amount of injuries that Tottenham are racking up that task looks almost impossible now. It’s unfortunate that a tie with so much potential for the London side seems to have been ruined in advance by the injury. Oh, and they also have a trip to Wigan to worry about over the weekend as well. Rough.

“He was passed fit to train by the FAW medical team and it was only after 40 minutes of his first training session on Tuesday, which included some high intensity runs, Gareth complained of tightness in his right hamstring and was pulled out of the remainder of the session as a precaution.”

“We requested the player be sent immediately for a scan which subsequently revealed the hamstring strain that forced his withdrawal from the squad. Gareth has returned and taken part in controlled straight-line running so we could assess him.”