Bale battles Ronaldo for ticket to Euro 2016 final

TIL Desk Sports/ Gareth Bale leads Wales into battle against Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal in the Euro 2016 semi-finals tomorrow hoping to become the first British side to reach a major tournament final in 50 years. Wales have already surpassed all expectations on their first ever appearance at the European Championship finals by reaching the last four with a rousing 3-1 win over the highly-fancied Belgium.

However, the spectre of the Real Madrid teammates, the world’s two most expensive players, going head-to-head adds extra spice to an already dazzling encounter in Lyon. “It’s not about two players, everyone knows that, it’s about two nations in a semi-final,” insisted Bale on Tuesday in a bid to defuse the billing of he and Ronaldo’s all-star showdown. “He’s a fantastic player, everyone knows what he can do.

We concentrate on what we can do as a team, and not concentrate on individuals.”Despite winning the Champions League twice in three years with Madrid, Bale has tended to be overshadowed by Ronaldo in the Spanish capital, where the Portuguese is a living legend as the top scorer in Real’s history.