Wales have advanced to the semifinals of a major football tournament for the first time with a come-from-behind 3-1 victory over Belgium, which paid dearly for its careless play on defence in an Euro 2016 quarter-final here.
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Wales fought back from a goal down to beat the Belgians 3-1 in Lille thanks to goals from Ashley Williams, Hal Robson-Kanu and substitute Sam Vokes.
The Football Association of Wales Twitter feed featured the message: “The most famous night in Welsh football history”.
“If they have to take one for the team then so be it and Aaron has done that, so has Ben Davies”.
On the day his contract expired at English second-tier club Reading, the 27-year-old striker got a boost for a CV that a month ago looked like taking him nowhere fast as he battled an ankle injury to even make the Euro 2016 squad. “But I am confident in the team we have and the players we have that they can step in and do a job and hopefully can get us to the final”.
“Obviously it is a blow because Ben and Aaron have started every game for us”, said fellow defender James Chester.
Gareth Bale insists the Euro 2016 semi-final between Wales and Portugal is not about him and Real Madrid team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo.
They topped their group, which included England and Russian Federation, before beating Northern Ireland in the round of 16.
Wales will face Portugal in Lyon on Wednesday, knowing they are only 90 minutes away from a spot in the final in Paris.
Nick Marshall, 42, from Manchester, said: “I sent a message to my friends who couldn’t get to Lille saying to just book flights as soon as”.
Ramsey was punished for intentionally handling the ball to break up a Belgium attack when Wales was under pressure leading 2-1 in the 75th minute.
In their first major tournament since the 1958 World Cup, Wales have now bettered the performance of that team, who lost to Pele’s Brazil in the quarter-finals.
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But while the Red Devils players will be hurting following a game that they were expected to win, Hazard, 25, says his teammates have reason to be cheerful going forward. But we’re still here, we’re still together and still enjoying us. We’ve taken that into the tournament now. “At the end of the match we all said that we would have liked to continue because we have a lot of quality, but they played with more desire than us today”.
