Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho insists he is a huge fan of Gareth Bale and that the Wales forward has nothing to prove to him.
Bale endured a miserable start to his second spell at Spurs where fitness issues have prevented him making much of an impact after joining on loan from Real Madrid.
But the 31-year-old has started to show flashes of his old magic in the north London club's previous two matches.
In Spurs' 2-1 defeat at West Ham on Sunday, the introduction of Bale at half-time gave the team a much needed spark after an insipid opening 45 minutes.
His corner was flicked in off the post by Lucas Moura to drag Spurs back into the Premier League contest, while Bale also ran past defenders with ease and clipped the crossbar with a fierce strike from the edge of the area.
Three days earlier, Bale enjoyed his best game since rejoining the club with a man-of- the-match performance in Spurs' 4-1 thrashing of Wolfsberger in the Europa League last-32 first leg.
He supplied the cross or Son Heung-min to head home the opener before blasting home the second himself. It was the first time since April 2013 that he scored and assisted a Tottenham goal in the same game.
Mourinho said he is "totally convinced" about Bale's quality and hopes he will play a key role until the end of the season.
"He doesn't need to convince me of anything," said Mourinho ahead of the second leg against Wolfsberger on Wednesday. "I am totally convinced about everything. It's not about convincing me, it's about being ready to play the minutes we all would love him to play.
"It's a process. You feel that in matches in the last couple of years. It's the process. We want him of course to be ready to play every minute of every game.
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Wolfsberger 1 Spurs 4: player ratings
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WOLFSBERGER RATINGS: Alexander Kofler - 4. Flapped at the ball a few times and was calamitous with his feet, giving the ball away for the third. AP -
Michael Novak - 5. Was probably the most consistent of Wolfsberger’s defenders, perhaps showing his experience. AP -
Dominik Baumgartner - 5. Looked out of his depth at times during the first half but grew a lot in the second. AFP -
Luka Lochoshvili - 4. The ball went through his legs for the opener and the centre-back looked very clumsy at times. Reuters -
Jonathan Scherzer - 5. Put in a lot of effort but was embarrassed by Gareth Bale for Spurs’ second. EPA -
Sven Sprangler - 4. Struggled to really make a mark on the game, often looking a step behind Spurs’ midfielders. Booked for a foul on Lucas Moura. AFP -
Matthaus Taferner - 5. Showed flashes of quality early on but struggled to stay in the game at all when the away side got control. AFP -
Michael Liendl - 6. Scored Wolfsberger’s goal from the spot and showed a lot of composure no matter the situation. Reuters -
Christopher Wernitznig - 6. Came close with a free-kick and put in a lot of effort, winning the penalty with his pressing and hitting the bar. EPA -
Dejan Joveljic - 6. The man on loan from Eintracht Frankfurt showed good feet at times and was intelligent in his hold-up play. AFP -
Dario Vizinger - 5. Had a good header saved by Hugo Lloris but struggled to deal with the physicality of Spurs’ defence. EPA -
SUBSTITUTES: Kai Lukas Stratznig (Vizinger, HT) - 6. Put in a lot of work and constantly harassed the Spurs midfield while doing the basics well. AP -
Gustav Henriksson (Taferner, HT) - 5. Made some good interventions but was unable to prevent Vinicius’ goal. AFP -
Cheikhou Dieng (Joveljic 65’) - 5. Showed great intent and brought out a few skills but didn’t get any real openings. PA -
Guram Giorbelidze (Sprangler 65’) - 5. Pressed well and made a good block to deny a possible goalscoring chance for Spurs. Mario Pavelic (Novak 81’) – N/R. Put in some good defensive work as Wolfsberger tried to keep a shred of hope going into the second leg. AFP -
TOTTENHAM RATINGS: Hugo Lloris – 6. Made a great save to stop Vizinger’s header resulting in a goal but was outfoxed from the penalty spot. EPA -
Matt Doherty - 7. Made a nice pass to Bale in the lead up to the opener and went even better by assisting the Welshman. AFP -
Eric Dier - 6. Missed a decent chance with his head and it was his pass into Sissoko that led to the penalty. PA -
Toby Alderweireld - 7. Was convincing in his defensive play and made some great passes to stretch Wolfsberger’s defence. AP -
Ben Davies - 6. Was effective both on and off the ball but never had to go out of his way that much. EPA -
Moussa Sissoko - 5. Took a couple of hits from Wernitznig. Had a poor second half which included giving a penalty away. Reuters -
Harry Winks - 6. Passed the ball well and looked comfortable throughout without doing anything spectacular. PA -
Gareth Bale - 8. Assisted the opener with a nice cross before taking his goal brilliantly – sending Scherzer sliding off in the process. Didn’t do a lot in his time during the second half. EPA -
Dele Alli - 7. Looked up for it in the first half, making brilliant runs behind the Wolfsberger defence and providing moments of wonderful skill. Faded in the second half. Booked after a foul on Baumgartner. Reuters -
Lucas Moura - 7. Made the game comfortable with his superb run and finish for Spurs’ third. Showed authority on the ball throughout. AFP -
Son Heung-min - 7. Scored the opener with his head, drew fouls and looked lively in his general play before being taken off at the break. AFP -
SUBSTITUTES: Carlos Vinicius (Son, HT) - 6. Needs to do more in general play but scored with an instinctive finish. PA -
Erik Lamela (Bale 64’) - 6. Showed some good bits of quality and his header assisted Vinicius. Reuters -
Steven Bergwijn (Moura 65’) - 5. Got plenty of touches on the ball but didn’t stretch Wolfsberger’s defence that much. AFP -
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (Sissoko 78’) – N/R. Was booked while looking to help Spurs settle the second half before running up the other end to put in the cross that resulted in Vinicius’ goal. Tanguy Ndombele (Alli 78’) – N/R. Probably felt he should’ve been given a few more fouls than turned out to be the case. AFP
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"He is a player with special qualities, you could see against West Ham in the second 45 minutes the positive impact in the quality of the game. He had a cross, he had a couple of assists, he hit the crossbar.
"He is doing that better and better, but he is not playing 90 minutes, he is not playing every game. We have to manage his evolution. But he has nothing at all to convince me about."
Spurs have six games in March before an international break where Bale could play three times for Wales, so Mourinho is keen to manage him carefully.
"We play Wolfsberger, then we play Burnley, Fulham midweek, Crystal Palace at home and then hopefully we play Europa League again," he said. "We play nine matches – six plus three – in March.
"That's six for us at the club plus three for the national team. Our players are going to be on a nine-match run in March which is something absolutely crazy.
"And Gareth is a special example of a player we need to take care of. I can tell you that at this moment Gareth is playing all the minutes that he can and that we feel are good for his evolution.
"And what he wants and what we want is in this last part of the season to play more minutes and more crucial matches than he did."
