Spurs face defensive crisis ahead of Real Madrid clash

Spurs manager Harry Redknapp faces an injury crisis for the crunch Champions League quarter-final tie against Real Madrid, and could be left with only two fit central defenders against one of the strongest attacks in world football.

Harry Redknapp will hope his star Gareth Bale will recover in time after he withdrew from the Welsh squad with a hamstring, but it remains unlikely that he will regain fitness in time.

Redknapp said, Gareth worked with the fitness coaches and he looked OK this morning. Whether he is OK to play two games this weekend is doubtful. We will have a look at that tomorrow and decide which way to go with it. We are going to leave it late. We'd love to have him fit but if he isn't fit then we can't play him.

However, Redknapp is confident that his team can pose Madrid a challenge even without Bale, who played a major role in getting them to the quarter-finals.

We have other good players here who can play on the left, Redknapp said. Niko Kranjcar has just gone off and had a couple of games for Croatia. Steven Pienaar is fit now too.

Bale isn't the only injury concern and Redknapp revealed that skipper Ledley King (groin), William Gallas (knee), Younes Kaboul (thigh strain) and Jonathan Woodgate (calf) were all injured and may not recover in time for the first-leg. It leaves Redknapp with only Michael Dawson and Sébastien Bassong as central defenders fit to play.

It could prove to be a huge task if, with a weakened defense, if Spurs manage to restrict the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Mesut Ozil and Angel Di Maria. Redknapp admitted his concern.

We started the year with six central defenders here. Now we have two, Redknapp told Sky Sports News. We have lost Ledley King, it looks like he will have to have an operation that will finish his season.

Jonathan Woodgate was making good progress but got a calf injury in a friendly against Barnet and Younes Kaboul is still out with a thigh strain. William Gallas has been for a scan on his knee today. He struggled at the weekend and we are now down to having just Michael Dawson and Sébastien Bassong.

However, it wasn't all doom and gloom for Spurs. Aaron Lennon, who pulled out of the England squad with a hamstring injury, is touted to be fit in time for Saturday's trip to Wigan.

Aaron is OK. He trained this morning. There isn't any problem with him, Redknapp said. He met up with England and stayed with them for 10 days, felt his hamstring was tight and we didn't want to risk him going so he pulled out of the squad.