I couldn' control brilliant Bale, Maicon admits

London: Maicon made his retreat to the sanctuary of Milan on Wednesday, anxious to move swiftly on from his latest Bale-force battering.

For the second time in a fortnight, Tottenham winger Gareth Bale had stunned Inter Milan and their experienced Brazilian full back.

"Bale is phenomenal," said Maicon. "He played a great game and he is a great player, a great champion. We have to give great praise to him. We knew what he could do, but he was impossible to control.

"He put in a great performance. All of Tottenham did. We gave it a go, but the third goal sealed it. Tottenham made the most of home advantage. We have to look immediately to the next match. We have to beat Twente and we are now working towards that."

Bale decorated the San Siro with a wonderful hat-trick when 10-man Spurs stormed back from 4-0 down two weeks ago. On Tuesday night at White Hart Lane, he failed to find the net but was the undisputed hero of Tottenham's 3-1 win.

Left drooling

The Italian media were again left drooling at his astonishing power and pace and seemed to think it was inevitable that he would soon be heading for Serie A.

Italy's top selling Gazzetta dello Sport described him as "a fury", rating him 8.5 out of 10 and added: "He is a force of nature. Devastating. He doesn't have one extra gear but three."

They described Maicon as "a punch-drunk boxer" and savaged Inter coach Rafa Benitez with a mark of 4.5 out of 10, four points fewer than Harry Redknapp.

Corriere dello Sport reinforced the view that Bale would now be even more of a target for Inter's ambitious owner Massimo Moratti, saying he was the ideal player as he 'shunned pints of lager, discos and showgirls".