André Villas-Boas hailed Gareth Bale as "incredible" after a stunning performance for Tottenham against Lyon. The Tottenham star fired in two stunning free-kicks to give his side a 2-1 win over the visitors in the first leg of a Europa League last-32 tie.
Bale is being compared to Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo
The 23-year-old's performances have attracted interest from European giants including Real Madrid, but Villas-Boas believes Spurs chairman Daniel Levy will do everything to keep the club's star man.
"Great teams are made of great individuals too," Villas-Boas said. "Gareth has been decisive and I'm happy to see him enjoying his football - but it's unfair to say we rely on him.
He scored two stunning free kicks against Lyon
"Most teams have to hang on to their best players. Barcelona losing Messi would be a disaster, Real Madrid losing Ronaldo would be a disaster.
"There are no release clauses at English clubs and it's very difficult to negotiate with Tottenham - as you know."
The Lyon manager, Rémi Garde, also believes that Bale's ability from set pieces ranks him among the best in the world and agreed that there are similarities with Ronaldo.
"If you mean in the context of the way they take free-kicks, I think you could make a decent comparison, if you're referring to the way the ball dips and drops over the wall. We used to have a player at Lyon called Juninho and we always used to think with him that every time we got a free-kick in that area it was like a penalty. We've seen tonight that it's a little bit like that with Bale and Tottenham."
Lyon and Tottenham meet again in one weeks time for the return leg of the Europa League 1st knock-out phase.
