Tottenham star Gareth Bale has once again spoken of his admiration for Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, describing him as a “benchmark” for every aspiring footballer.

The winger scored an impressive individual effort in Spurs’ 1-1 draw with Norwich City on Wednesday night, a game that coincided with El Clasico as Ronaldo’s Madrid also clawed back a one-goal deficit to level matters against Barcelona.

And Bale, who has previously described the Portuguese superstar as his “idol”, told reporters of the forward: “The way he plays, I think he is the best all-round player in the world.

“People have said things in the past [that] the stuff he does is similar in a way to what I do. All I can do is keep playing my football. He is right up there and a benchmark for every player who wants to be as good as him.

“The free kick technique works for him and he scores a lot of goals and big goals. He is obviously doing something right and it’s good to look at other players, how they do things and take my game to another level.

“You set your sights [on playing like him] – he is on a different planet apart from [Lionel] Messi. He is one of those players that everyone aspires to and I’d love to be half as good as him.”

Bale’s 80th-minute strike cancelled out Wes Hoolahan’s opener, and the Welshman felt Spurs were “unlucky” not to secure all three points even after an admittedly poor first half.

“It felt good when I was running through,” he said of his 12th club goal of the season. “I had a lot of space to run into which I like and it was a good goal.

“The important thing was it got us back into the game near the end and we were unlucky not to get three points.

“They are difficult grounds to go to, playing against teams fighting against relegation and the manager told us at half-time we weren’t good enough. We came out in the second half and played some great stuff and turned up a few gears, showed what we’re capable of and we were unlucky not to win.”