By Paul Jones
Gareth Bale insists he is in the best shape possible to lead Wales into their World Cup qualifying campaign against Belgium tonight.
The 31-year-old Tottenham forward – who has never played at the finals of the tournament – begins another mission in Leuven, believing his loan move from Real Madrid and then increasing match action has put him into peak fitness.
On arriving fresh for international duty, Bale said: “Over the last few years this is probably the most match fitness I’ve had.
“I’m feeling fresh and ready to go. I always think when things aren’t going too well at a club, it’s nice to get away, especially mentally, get away from the club environment.
“Definitely it can be a benefit. We focus on these games for Wales, which are very important for us. We forget club life and concentrate on this.”
Wales open their qualifying campaign against Belgium before hosting the Czech Republic on Tuesday.
Bale admits he would swap one of his four Champions League winners’ medals to grace the biggest international stage at Qatar 2022.
“Obviously, realistically that’s not going to happen,” Bale said when that scenario was put to him. “But why not?
“I remember playing Ireland (in 2018 World Cup qualification). I was up in the stands and it was very frustrating, I felt like I was kicking every ball.
“It was obviously difficult after the game to have the loss and the dream of World Cup qualifying end.
“Hopefully we can draw on those experiences in a positive way and use that hurt to push us even harder this time around.
“It might be the last time my generation has the opportunity to qualify for a World Cup.
“We haven’t done that as a country for a long time and it’s something that the players dream of doing. We’ll give everything we can to do that.
“Coming into my Wales career the main thing was to play in a major tournament.
“We’ve managed to do that and now to be able to tick everything off the list, it would be to qualify for a World Cup. We want to do that.
“We don’t want to just qualify for one or two tournaments but want to keep qualifying and making sure we’re pushing Wales in the right direction.
“For me personally, to qualify for a World Cup would be amazing and we want to do everything we can to qualify this time around.”
Wales have suffered a double defensive blow after Bale’s Tottenham team-mate Ben Davies and Luton’s Tom Lockyer were ruled out of their country’s opening two World Cup qualifiers, as well as Saturday’s friendly with Mexico in Cardiff.
Davies has not recovered from a calf problem he suffered in Spurs’ 2-0 win over Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday, while Lockyer has not played since sustaining an ankle injury against Cardiff last month.
Wales are also without Juventus midfielder Aaron Ramsey who was earlier ruled out of the opening two World Cup qualifiers with a thigh injury.
Gareth Bale plans to end his Tottenham stay at the end of the season and return to Real Madrid
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) March 23, 2021
The 30-year-old has missed Juventus’ last two games and it was reported in Italy that he would not be fit until after the international break.
With Ryan Giggs still absent and on bail over assault charges which he denies, caretaker Rob Page will be overseeing the game and will have taken charge of six successive Wales matches when this international window ends.
The finals of the European Championship are now less than two months away and the question of who will be in charge of the team for that campaign remains unclear.
Asked about the situation, Bale said: “Going into the Euros, ideally things are sorted.
“We understand the situation and the FAW will obviously be in charge of that. We have just tried to keep it the same.”