He said on Saturday that the Welshman cannot be the same explosive player who left the English Premier League (EPL) club to join Real Madrid seven years ago.

The 31-year-old Bale, back at Tottenham on loan from the Spanish side, is building up his fitness and has played three games in all competitions this season.

The games included Thursday’s 1-0 Europa League defeat by Belgian league leaders Royal Antwerp.

Mourinho said before that match that Bale was ready to “fly”, but the Portuguese was more measured in his assessment heading into Sunday’s league game against Brighton & Hove Albion.

“Seven years is a long gap. So, which player in the world is the same as he was seven years ago? Sometimes they’re not better or worse, just different players,” Mourinho told reporters.

“You look for example at (Cristiano) Ronaldo and (Lionel) Messi and compare them with seven years ago. They play in different areas, different positions.

“They transform their qualities, try to explore their qualities in other responsibilities on the tactical system of their teams.

“I think it happens with the majority of the players. So for sure he’s a different player.”

Mourinho backed Bale to regain his best form with more minutes under his belt.

“Every word I said on Wednesday I believe, because he’s working hard, he’s improving, he doesn’t have one single injury since he recovered from the last one,” Mourinho added.

“He didn’t miss a single minute of any training session. To play 90 minutes is still hard, to play high intensity is still difficult.

”But he’s improving and, hopefully, he’ll be back to a better level soon.”

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Veteran striker Lior Refaelov’s first-half goal gave Antwerp their second win in Group J and put them top with six points, three ahead of Spurs and LASK of Austria.

Antwerp dominated the first half and went ahead just before the half-hour mark after a defensive lapse by Ben Davies allowed Dieumerci Mbokani to steal the ball and set up the Israel international for a solid finish.

Four substitutions at the start of the second half reflected the irritation of Spurs Manager, Jose Mourinho, but Antwerp continued to look the more dangerous in spite of the changes.

Harry Kane came on for Gareth Bale 13 minutes into the second half, but the Spurs skipper was also unable to ignite a comeback as Antwerp proved defensively solid to hang on for the win.

In the other game in Group J, Austrian side LASK got the better of Ludogorets, beating the Bulgarians 4-3.

A penalty miss by Zlatan Ibrahimovic had little impact on AC Milan as they cruised to victory against Sparta Prague to go top of Group H with two wins from two games.

Scottish champions, Celtic, threw away a two-goal lead in a 2-2 draw at Lille.

Three quick goals either side of halftime gave Arsenal a comfortable victory over Dundalk and put them top of Group B on goal difference ahead of Molde, who grabbed a 1-0 home win over Rapid Vienna.

There was drama in Group C as 10-man Bayer Leverkusen slumped to a shock 1-0 defeat away to Slavia Prague.

Also, Nice edged out Hapoel Beer Sheva by the same scoreline to leave all three sides on three points after the first two rounds.

The goal of the night was scored by Omonia Nicosia’s Jordi Gomez, who struck a quick free kick from just inside his own half that flew over PSV Eindhoven keeper Yvon Mvogo and into the net.

Unfortunately for Gomez, his superb effort was in vain as Donyell Malen scored twice in reply.

Malen netted the winner in the 90th minute for a 2-1 victory to go second in Group E behind Granada, who drew 0-0 with PAOK Thessaloniki.

The spoils were shared in Group A as AS Roma were held to a surprise 0-0 draw by Bulgarian side, CSKA Sofia, while CFR Cluj of Romania went top after a 1-1 draw with Swiss side Young Boys.

In Group L, Hoffenheim made it two wins out of two with a 4-1 win over bottom side Gent, while El Fardou Ben Nabouhane scored twice as Red Star Belgrade went second with a 5-1 drubbing of Slovan Liberec.

Group G is turning into a two-horse race as Leicester City beat AEK Athens 2-1 away and SC Braga won by the same scoreline at Georgian side Zorya to leave both victors with six points from two games.

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