Tottenham flyer Gareth Bale has labelled Liverpool’s Charlie Adam as a “coward” after he injured him in the weekend’s 0-0 draw between the sides, having previously cut him down.
The Welsh suffered an ankle injury following a heavy tackle from Adam, who injured the Spurs man’s ankle in 2011, ruling him out for three months at the time.
The incident, which forced Bale off the pitch and has his availability for the start of the Premier League season in doubt, left him clearly disappointed.
“From what I’ve seen of him on pitch, I think he’s a bit of a coward,” Bale said. “I was surprised to see a challenge like that in a friendly. We’re all over here to build our fitness and get a good workout and what he did as over the top, to be honest.
“But some people are like that and it’s just wrong. My ankle is sore - very, very sore. We’ll have to wait and see how it goes. I’ll probably have to have a scan.
“There are pictures on the internet of what he did before when he snapped all my ankle ligaments. I was out for three months that time and one player told me he went out to do the same thing to me again. Seriously, I haven’t ever done anything to him. He’s obviously come for me twice now - and he’s got me twice.
“I would have understood it had it been a slightly mistimed tackle, even though it was just a friendly. But the ball was 10 yards past him already and was nowhere near him when he came through my ankle.”
He added: “When someone makes a very bad tackle on you in a game you expect him to come up and apologise. But I’ve had no apology from him and I don’t really want one from him to be honest. That’s what kind of person he is like.”