Tottenham Must Channel Spirit of 1984 to Thwart Basel Without Gareth Bale

Tottenham were without their talismanic midfielder through injury but still managed to win a European trophy. For Gareth Bale, read Glenn Hoddle.

If Andre Villas-Boas and his team need any inspiration ahead of their Europa League quarterfinal second leg against FC Basel in Switzerland, then recent history offers a glorious template for the North London side to follow.

Hoddle was the mercurial talent in a Spurs team, which also included Osvaldo Ardiles, Steve Archibald, Graham Roberts and Garth Crooks.

The former Spurs and England manager had been the architect of the 6-2 aggregate win over Feyenoord in the second round.

Dutch legend Johan Cruyff, who was in the final throes of his playing career, could not cope with Hoddle in his assigned role to man-mark the midfielder at White Hart Lane and Tottenham were 4-0 up by half-time.

Hoddle also made his mark against Bayern Munich in the next round when Mark Falco latched on to a wonderful pass from the midfielder to slide home the winner four minutes from the end of the second leg.

Hoddle played in the first leg of the quarterfinal against Austria Vienna as a substitute due to concerns over his fitness, but did not feature in the second leg. Tottenham manager Keith Burkinshaw and his team refused to be bowed, though, and reached the final without Hoddle courtesy of a semifinal win over Hajduk Split after seeing off the Austrians.

Ultimately, Spurs did not require the services of Hoddle in the final. With that being said, his presence might have prevented the final going to a penalty shootout, where goalkeeper Tony Parks was the hero when he saved an effort from Arnor Gudjohnsen—the father of Eidur—to clinch the trophy against Anderlecht.

Hoddle was out for several months but Spurs will only be without Bale for two games following the Wales international's ankle injury, which he picked up in the 2-2 draw with Basel in the first leg.

Tottenham will be looking for a similar impact from their current team at St Jakob Park on Thursday night.