Gareth Bale couldn’t handle the Tottenham pressure until one strange moment – Seb Bassong

Tottenham Hotspur former fan favourite Sebastien Bassong has revealed how Gareth Bale retired Maicon, left Samuel Eto’o stunned, and overcame his lack of self-belief.

Every Tottenham Hotspur fan has fond memories of Gareth Bale, who arrived from Southampton in the 2007/08 season.

The Welshman endured a tough start to life in north London, famously going 24 league games without a win—a record that stood until 2020.

His early struggles led to doubts, but once he found his feet, there was no stopping him. Bale became a game-changer, a player capable of deciding matches on his own.

Nowhere was this more evident than in Tottenham’s UEFA Champions League clash with Inter Milan, where he announced himself to the world.

A stunning hat-trick at San Siro was followed by a dominant display at White Hart Lane, where he tormented the Italian giants once more, providing two assists in the return leg.

Sebastien Bassong recalls how Gareth Bale retired Maicon

Former Spurs defender Sebastien Bassong has now shed light on how Bale’s display that night effectively ended Maicon’s career at the top level, leaving Inter teammate Samuel Eto’o in disbelief.

Speaking to talkSPORT, Bassong recounted: “When we played Milan—because I was playing alongside him, right? And when he started to do his things, Samuel Eto’o, because he was my fellow teammate, came to me. He said, ‘Seb, who’s that guy?’ I said, ‘You’re about to find out.’

“I told him, ‘He’s going to retire Maicon.’ He put him in the grave. Literally.”

Bale’s transformation into an unstoppable Tottenham star

Bassong went on to explain how Bale’s meteoric rise was fuelled by self-belief and a sudden lack of competition in his position.

“And Gareth—I mean, you can see how self-confidence does something. We all know the story about Gareth beforehand, but when Benoît Assou-Ekotto got injured, he had no competition. There was a switch because he could not handle the pressure before. But once he was alone—the only option, at least—honestly, that was just…

“From the outside, you would have seen it, but from the pitch, Gareth could have played by himself on the left, like a left-back, by himself. Just give him the ball.”

To date, Bale’s performance against Inter remains one of the most iconic individual displays in Tottenham’s modern history, a true statement of his talent and the beginning of his transformation into one of football’s elite stars.

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