Bale recovers from back injury to score in Tottenham pre-season clash

Welsh winger ruled himself out of Team GB's Olympic squad due to the problem but is playing once more before the Games have started, netting a header against LA Galaxy

Gareth Bale made his return from a back injury for Tottenham against LA Galaxy on Wednesday morning, despite previously claiming that he would not be fit enough to play for Team GB at the Olympic Games.

The 23-year-old completed 75 minutes against the Galaxy, scoring the opening goal with a header from a Gylfi Sigurdsson cross.

Spurs coach Andre Villas-Boas dismissed questions about Bale's exclusion from Stuart Pearce's Olympic squad, stating that the Welshman had recovered quicker than expected.

	NEEDING A BALE-OUT
10/3	In Bale's absence, Great Britain's men are 10/3 with William Hill to be eliminated in the group stages

"Gareth is of course extremely young and physically a beast," Villas-Boas told reporters. "He was able to put in the effort. We extended that because we want him to complete a certain amount of minutes before we start the season.

"We could say that [we] took a risk. If you recall that 10 minutes into the game he was stretching himself, so he was feeling a little bit of muscle tightness but it was controllable.

"We welcome his recovery, to have a player of this dimension is fantastic."