Last night Tottenham Hotspur left the Allianz Arena wondering “what if?” after a night of missed chances, slumping to a Gareth Bale-inspired 2-0 defeat to Real Madrid in the Audi Cup.

The north Londoners were the first to threaten the opposition goal,as Kyle Walker cut back to Erik Lamela who wasted a superb chance to take the lead.

Jese Rodriguez was Madrid’s most threatening player all afternoon, giving Tottenham an early indication of what they were in for the next 90 minutes as he struck the woodwork soon afterwards.

Entering the 15th minute, Christian Eriksen punctuated with a skilful, twisting run from the left with a swerving shot that was parried away by Kiko Casilla in the Madrid goal.

As the game’s pace begun to slow James Rodriguez broke the deadlock in the 36th minute. From the left flank, Isco’s cross was met by the Colombian, who happily headed home.

Spurs continued to create chances, however second half substitutions disjointed much of the play thereafter.

As the lost much of its rhythm and headed towards its conclusion, former Spurs man Bale doubled Madrid’s lead after pouncing on some Tom Carroll indecision in midfield. The goal acted as yet another reminder of the prodigious talent that they let go just two summers ago.

Speaking afterwards, Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino remained positive despite the result.

“I thought the first 30 minutes were great and we played very well,” he told the club's website.

“We created many chances to score but it’s true, when you have this type of team in front of you, this type of player, when you make some kind of mistake you always pay for it.

“We played well and when we assess the full 90 minutes there are plenty of positives for us, a great experience to compete against these world-class players.

“We need to be more consistent and in the last 20 metres we need to score, we need to be more aggressive, but we are in a good way. You have to understand that in front of us is Real Madrid and we’re a little frustrated by the result, but there are a lot of positives.”

The game acted as Spurs’ penultimate pre-season friendly as they return to Bayern Munich’s iconic stadium for the Audi Cup’s wooden spoon decider against AC Milan on Wednesday before the start of the new Premier League season this Saturday against Manchester United.

Tottenham Hotspur: Vorm, Walker, Rose, Alderweireld, Lamela (Chadli 45), Dier (Bentaleb 45), Kane (c) (Onomah 86), Dembele, Alli (Winks 68), Eriksen (Carroll 68), Wimmer (Vertonghen 45).

Substitutes: McGee (GK), Trippier, Fazio, Davies, Mason.