Ireland planning to keep Bale quiet

Defender Seamus Coleman has challenged the Republic of Ireland to strengthen their grip on World Cup qualification by doing to Gareth Bale what they did to Zlatan Ibrahimovic at Euro 2016.

Much of the talk in the days building up to tonight’s match with Wales in Dublin has centred on Real Madrid player Bale and how best Group D leaders Ireland can cope with the danger he represents.

But having seen his team largely becalm Sweden talisman Ibrahimovic in Saint-Denis as they launched their Euro 2016 finals campaign in France last summer, captain Coleman is confident they can do the same to Bale.

He said: “We are a team which has played against big players in the past – I remember when we played Sweden in the summer, all the talk was about Zlatan and it’s quite similar this time.

“But we are fully focused on our job and looking forward to the game. Look, as I said, we were getting asked the same questions in the summer about certain players and you have got another 10 players on the pitch you have got to worry about.

“We know he’s a world-class player and we are going to have to be careful and get tight to him in certain areas, but we can’t just fully focus on Gareth Bale.”

Robbie Brady is ruled out through suspension and Shane Duffy, Ciaran Clark, Harry Arter, Wes Hoolahan and Daryl Murphy are injured.

There are concerns Wales’ Joe Ledley could miss the game if his wife Ruby, who is due to give birth to their third child a few days after the Ireland game, goes into labour early.

But Ledley trained with the rest of the squad before Chris Coleman’s men were due to depart for Dublin.