Gareth Bale: Wales' qualification to Euro 2016 as special as Champions League success

Gareth Bale insists Wales' Euro 2016 qualification is as special as his Real Madrid success

GARETH BALE says Wales' qualification for Euro 2016 was every bit as special as his Champions League success with Real Madrid.

 

The 26-year-old 'Galactico' led the celebrations as the Dragons booked their place in France, despite a 2-0 defeat to Bosnia on a sodden night here in Zenica.

But neither the weather, or goals from Milan Djuric and Vedad Ibisevic, could dampen Welsh jubilation as Israel's defeat to Cyprus guaranteed a top-two finish in Group B.

Chris Coleman's men can now look forward to a first major finals since 1958 and Bale ranks the feat up there with his header in Lisbon which helped Real to 'La Decima' last year.

 

"It is right up there with winning the Champions League, to be honest," said the world's most expensive player. "Everyone knows how important Wales are to me and how proud we are to all play for our country. It ranks top, or at least on a par with everything else.

"It is hard to put into words. It is down to all our hard work, turning up to every camp and sticking to our game plan.

"It is all credit to everyone involved from the physio and doctors to the coaching staff and fans.

Real Madrid star Bale - It's right up there with winning the Champions League to be honest

"It has been an effort by the whole nation and obviously we are all proud and going to enjoy this moment.

"We are disappointed to lose, I have never celebrated a loss like that. But it is not about one game, we did a lot of the hard work beforehand."

Like Northern Ireland, who qualified last Thursday, it will be the first time Wales have played in the finals of the European Championships.

Welsh efforts at reaching a major tournament have on occasions seemed cursed, made up of heart-breaking near misses, dodgy penalties and missed chances.

Over the years the likes of Neville Southall, Ian Rush, Mark Hughes and Ryan Giggs have all missed out on playing at the highest level, now Bale and company will get the chance.

Wales coach Chris Coleman hopes to nail down a new contract before Euro 2016

All that is left is to iron out a new contract for Coleman, whose existing deal is up after the finals, and the 45-year-old hopes to sit down with FAW chiefs in the coming weeks to nail down his role for the World Cup campaign.

"We have not set a date for talks because, in fairness to the FAW, I asked if we could wait until we had qualified as it would be a distraction," said Coleman.

"They have been true to their word and we will see what happens over the next few weeks.

"After this experience I would probably sign a 10-year contract the way I feel at the minute.

"The thing for me is I know whenever I leave Wales I will never get the chance to work with players like Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey again, it is a big incentive.

"There are things that we need to change a little bit if we're going to push on and if we want this not to be a one-off and we want to build on it, and that will be important in any decision that is made going forward."