Tottenham 2 Lyon 1: Practice pays off for free-kick maestro Gareth Bale

Gareth Bale could not hide his delight at scoring free-kicks in successive games after his brace gave Tottenham a slender win over Lyon at White Hart Lane.

The Wales international, who grabbed a double against Newcastle United in the Premier League at the weekend, continued his scintillating form in the first leg of Spurs’ Europa League last-32 tie.

The 23-year-old netted a 45th-minute free-kick to give the home side the lead, after having beaten Tim Krul from a similar position on Saturday.

But Lyon’s Samuel Umtit scored a clinical equaliser in the 55th minute to leave the Ligue 1 outfit on the verge of an away draw before Bale netted his seventh goal in five games on the stroke of full-time.

“I’m delighted. I’ve been practising free-kicks on the training ground and I scored one like that last week. Both came at good times in the game,” Bale told ITV.

“Lyon are a good team and we weren’t 100 per cent to be honest – we looked a bit tired. But the most important thing is we got the win.

“It’s going to be hard going over there, but we’re taking this competition seriously.”

And midfielder Scott Parker revealed the hard work the Welshman puts into practising his set-pieces during training.

“I see Gareth practise those free-kicks quite a lot after training. That’s what you deserve when you put the practice in. It comes off.”