Bale: Wales ‘realistic’ about Euro chances after 2016 success
Gareth Bale says Wales are ‘realistic’ about their chances at the 2020 European Championship, following their semi-final run at the tournament five years ago.
In 2016, the Dragons beat Northern Ireland and Belgium in the knockout stage before losing to eventual champions Portugal in the last four.
It was seen as a major achievement for Wales as they had never before qualified for the tournament.
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Speaking about their chances at this year’s event, Bale said: “We’d love to replicate it but we’re realistic.
“We know it’s a different tournament playing different teams and we also have a very different team to what we did have.
“It’s going to be difficult going in against all these top nations.
“But we’re confident in our own ability what we can do on the pitch, and we’ll be doing everything to make it as much of a success as we can.”
Wales are in Group A and will face Italy, Switzerland and Turkey.
They will be managed by Robert Page due to Ryan Giggs’ assault trial.
Bale is one of eight survivors from the 2016 tournament, alongside the likes of Aaron Ramsey and Chris Gunter.
Seven of the squad are yet to reach 10 caps, while young midfielder Rubin Colwill has played just 191 minutes of senior football for Cardiff.
Bale continued: “They (the younger players) know if they want any advice, experience from us, or questions we need to answer, we’re here.
“But come the tournament obviously there’ll be stages where we’ll give some advice and basically use our experience.
“When those times come I’m sure we’ll all be ready to do that.”
The Dragons have spent the last week at a warm-weather training camp in the Algarve, Portugal.
They take on France and Albania in their final friendlies before the Euros start.
“It was important to get some warm-weather training,” Bale said.
“It’s going to be warm in Azerbaijan and it was great to put some hard work in and get the boys together.
“We had a bit of fun, but it was down to serious business at the same time.”
