"Family reasons" keep Bale out of Maribor clash

Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas has confirmed that Gareth Bale will miss their Europa League tie against Maribor due to "family reasons".

The winger's girlfriend went into labour shortly before Spurs' Premier League match against Chelsea on Saturday, prompting the Wales international to pull out of the line-up at the last minute. The couple's first child was born later that day.

The north London side currently sit in third spot in Group G and will have to do without the Welshman but Villas-Boas stressed that he will be back in the squad to face his former side, Southampton, in the next match.

"Gareth hasn't travelled for family reasons. He'll train at home to get ready for Southampton," the Portuguese told reporters.

The former Porto boss also revealed that Mousa Dembele could be fit in time to face the Saints but a number of his fellow squad members remain on the sidelines.

"Dembele is slowly returning - [he is a] big possibility for Southampton," he continued. "Scott [Parker] and [Younes] Kaboul are still recovering and Benoit [Assou-Ekotto] is still two weeks away.

"[Emmanuel] Adebayor has a pain in his back so he's recovering. There's not a lot of time to rest in the coming months so we need to be careful."

Source: Goal