Gareth Bale is not a diver, says former Tottenham winger David Ginola

Gareth Bale has been warned by David Ginola that he will find his growing reputation as a diver hard to shake off. But the Frenchman, who was accused of similar actions when he was at Tottenham, insisted accusations that the Welsh winger goes to ground too easily are unfounded.

"When you get a reputation it's really [hard] to get rid [of]," Ginola said. "It's really easy when you run that fast with that pace on the pitch at players – you don't need a big tackle to go down. A little push would be enough to lose balance."

Ginola urged referees to protect Bale. He said: "When you have players who entertain you week in, week out you have to protect that. It's so precious. You have to take care of them because they are little diamonds in a league like the English Premier League."