Wales vs Belgium. European Championships Quarter-Final.
Stade Pierre-MauroyAttendance45,936.
Friday 1 July 2016 18:53, UK
A first semi-final appearance at a major tournament awaits Wales as they prepare for a clash with Belgium, the highest-ranked European side.
Marc Wilmots' side trail only Argentina in the FIFA World Rankings and have responded well to the 2-0 defeat against Italy that started their Euro 2016 challenge.
Eight goals without reply in the past three games will give the Belgians plenty of confidence ahead of Friday's quarter-final. But Wales took four points off Belgium in qualification and are already making history at their maiden European Championship.
The Welsh have kept back-to-back clean sheets, against Russia and Northern Ireland, and did not concede against the Red Devils in either of their Euro 2016 qualifying games either.
And of course they have Gareth Bale.
The Real Madrid forward was joint top of the goalscorer charts (with three) after the round of 16 games and is not short on confidence ahead of the game.
"From that night, we have gone up to another level," Bale told reporters, referring to their 1-0 win over Belgium in qualifying. "It was a changing moment for us but we've taken our game on, gelling even more."
The winners will face either Poland or Portugal in Lyon on Wednesday.
Team news
Ashley Williams has recovered from the shoulder injury he picked up against Norther Ireland.
The Wales captain struggled through to full-time with the injury and underwent tests at the start of the week, but joined in with full training on Wednesday.
All other 22 Wales players are reported as full fit ahead of Friday's game in Lille.
Belgium's defensive injury crisis, meanwhile, is building. Regular centre-backs Vincent Kompany and Nicolas Lombaerts didn't even make it to the tournament, while Thomas Vermaelen is suspended and Jan Vertonghen has been ruled out with an ankle ligament injury.
Vertonghen suffered the injury in training on Thursday, rolling over on his ankle as the coach blew his whistle to end the session. The Tottenham Hotspur defender will definitely miss Friday's game and reports suggest that he could be out for up to four months.
Jordan Lukaku and Manchester City youngster Jason Denayer are expected to come into the back four.
Eden Hazard has not trained since the 4-0 win over Hungary due to a knock, but his manager has said the Chelsea winger will be able to feature.
Mousa Dembele has trained with the Belgium squad after missing his team's last two games.
Opta stats
This is the first time these teams have met in the finals of a major tournament.
Their last three encounters against each other have produced only three goals.
Wales attempted only one shot on target in the second round game against Northern Ireland, which was a free-kick from Bale.
Injury time included, Wales have trailed for only 2 minutes and 31 seconds in total over their first four games at Euro 2016.
Wales are yet to concede a goal in the first half at Euro 2016.
Seven of Belgium's eight goals at Euro 2016 have been scored after half-time, including six in the last half hour.
Belgium have not conceded in the three games since a defeat Italy in the opening round of group matches.
Merson's predictions
These two have played each other plenty of times recently and I think it will be another tight game. People are getting carried away with Belgium after their 4-0 win, but Hungary were poor and Belgium scored three late goals when they were chasing the game.
Wales have worked very hard to get to this point, and the Northern Ireland match was really difficult. They were stuck playing their style of counter-attacking football while having most of the possession and I would play Hal Robson-Kanu this time, not Sam Vokes. They need pace up front to stretch the defence over the top.
Marc Wilmots' side have a go and when teams attack Wales it gives Gareth Bale space and he can be ruthless, but in a close game I'm just edging towards Belgium.
PAUL PREDICTS: 1-2 (8/1 with Sky Bet)
Betting
Belgium are odds-on at 8/11 to see off 17/4 outsiders Wales within 90 minutes, with Sky Bet making a draw and resulting extra-time a 23/10 chance.
Romelu Lukaku heads the first goalscorer betting at 7/2 while Gareth Bale is naturally rated the main Welsh threat at 11/2 to break the deadlock, with Sky Bet enhancing the Real Madrid star from 8/1 to 12/1 to score from outside the area in their Price Boosts.
The Soccer Saturday pundits and Jamie Redknapp have provided their predictions, including Phil Thompson's 22/1 fancy for Eden Hazard to score first in a 2-0 victory.
Follow Wales v Belgium with our live blog on skysports.com and the Sky Sports apps.
