Real Madrid forward Bale, the world’s most expensive player, will be the centre of attention at Stadium Bordeaux on Saturday when Wales launch their Euro 2016 campaign against Group B rivals Slovakia.
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The two home nations meet in Lens on Thursday, 16 June.
We have a lot more passion and pride about us than them. They big themselves up before they’ve done anything so we’re going to go there and we believe we can beat them.
“It is like any derby – you never want to lose to the enemy”, said the 26-year-old on Friday.
It has also been suggested by some that Wales’ qualification for Euro 2016 – their first major tournament appearance since 1958 – has vindicated Bale’s decision to choose the nation of his birth, but he insisted: “I wouldn’t care if I never qualified, I would never play for England”.
Despite what Skrtel says, there is no denying that Bale will play a key part and it will be fascinating to see if he can have as big an impact as he did in getting the Welsh to the tournament.
Lacking a main striker of genuine global quality, coach Chris Coleman knows his side must rely on midfield support as well as a normally reliable defence that looked less impressive in the final warm-up game – a 3-0 defeat by Sweden.
“I don’t think we ever stopped believing we would get here”.
“It’s like when I was young and being in a pub with my parents, everyone watching rugby or football on the television”.
“We have to get over any feeling of “the disease of me”; you have a bit of success and it is “all about me”.
The years in between have brought a succession of failed managerial regimes and agonising near-misses, but come kick-off, the call of the country’s long-suffering football fans will finally be answered.
Facing Slovakia will nearly bring the £86m man’s Wales career full circle, his first competitive appearance and goal arriving against them back in October 2006.
Coleman admits it will be a proud moment leading out Wales before the game but says his players cannot just soak the occasion in.
“We are really excited because a lot of time has passed since we qualified [for the 2010 World Cup, Slovakia’s only previous major tournament] and we can’t wait”.
“There were hard times but we were all young and building for the future. That has been detrimental to how far we have got”.
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“We’ve had a style of play which has taken time to embed”.
