“HOW ABOUT THE FINAL THIS TIME?! STRANGER THINGS HAVE HAPPENED…”

Aaron Ramsey experienced the greatest summer of his life five years ago, playing an integral role as Wales stunned the continent. As they prepare to go again, their ambitions remain limitless – though radical hairstyles may be off this time...

Just how special was Euro 2016? It was an amazing experience. Being with your mates for that period of time, beating some big teams... it was just the best time. It couldn’t have gone any better.

Why did you dye your hair platinum blond just before the tournament?!

I don’t know... I just thought, ‘ Why not?!’ I wanted to do it and thought it was the right time to go for it. There were several mothers after me, though, with the amount of children in Wales who had that hairstyle afterwards! [ FFT: What did the squad say when you first turned up with it?] A few were unsure, but I managed to back it up! People were putting a bit of pressure on when I first had it done, saying, ‘ You’d better perform…’

Before Euro 2016 started, what would you have regarded as success for Wales?

Not to be embarrassed. [ Laughs] No, our target was to win one game, then see what happened. We did that in the first against Slovakia. The first 10 or 15 minutes of it epitomised everything we felt: we were a bit nervous, conceded a few chances, and then settled down and started to play. Winning put us in a great position to get out the group.

England came from behind to win 2- 1 in your second game. How did you feel?

I was really looking forward to that, but we didn’t play to the best of our ability. It was frustrating, because we wanted to show that we could compete and get something from England. We took the lead and were trying to hold on to it, but they kept knocking and eventually won. It was absolutely gutting at the end because we’d given so much, then to concede two late goals was a kick in the stomach. But we still had three points – Chris Gunter was making chin- up gestures to us and we said, “We’re in a good position – let’s go from here with our heads held high and leave it all out there against Russia”. We could have gone the opposite way, chucked it in and gone into the next match saying, “Don’t get beat today” – but we’ve never had that mentality. We had all the pressure on us in the last game, which we thrived on.

Wales beat Russia 3- 0, after you scored early on. How big was that goal, for the team and for you personally?

It was something I really wanted to do before the tournament started, to score in the finals. I had family at every game, so when I went over to celebrate, I knew they were all up there in a little section. To a man, we played unbelievably well.

At 1- 0 down against Belgium in the quarter- finals, did you fear they might be too good for you?

They started like a house on fire. For the first five minutes, they could have scored a couple: we were making last- ditch tackles, clearing off the line. Then one of their shots flew in from 30 yards – you were thinking, ‘ This may be a long night’. But something happened in that moment – it was as if we were free to go and express ourselves. I don’t know... there

was no pressure then. We outplayed Belgium for long periods and they ran out of ideas. We thoroughly deserved it in the end. I felt like their goal helped us, in a way, to just relax and have a go.

You set up the first two goals. What were you thinking when Hal Robson- Kanu put Wales in front?

It was such a good feeling... such a high. Like, ‘ We’re actually beating Belgium in the quarter- finals of the European Championship – we’re not too far away from going through to the semi- finals. What’s going on here?!’

What do you remember about that night after you won the game?

Every game we were winning, we were just thinking, ‘ What are we actually doing? We’re Wales – we’re not supposed to be doing this!’ But we were just going further and further.

Going back to the hotel, they thought we were only staying for the first 10 days, then we’d be off! We ended up only missing five days of the tournament. After every game, the boys had a few beers and celebrated – we were just enjoying every minute because we’d never experienced anything like that before, and were taking it all in.

You picked up your second yellow card of the tournament late in that game. Did you realise instantly that you were going to be out of the semi- final?

Yeah. That was one of my biggest regrets, being suspended. I think they might have changed the rules about two yellows since then. You don’t get too many opportunities to play in the semi- final of a championship, so it was difficult to take, but it happened. The most frustrating thing was not being able to help my team in the game – watching from the side was even worse. Who knows what could have been? If it’s an injury, you can accept it more because you can’t play. But because of a couple of silly yellow cards that were nothing really, it was hard.

You got four assists at Euro 2016, though – the joint- highest with Eden Hazard – and made the team of the tournament...

Before, I wanted to show what I was capable of doing against the best players in the world – to show that I could compete at that level, on the big stage. I felt like I did that. It was an honour to get named in the team of the tournament and have the most assists, but the team made it all possible. [ FFT: Gareth Bale didn’t get in the team. Do you reckon

he was secretly gutted?] I think he was all right – he got a few goals!

How does it feel to have been a big part of a team that will be talked about for many years to come?

What we did was just incredible – nobody expected it. For future generations it will be talked about, and now it’s up to us to back it up and do it again. Talking about it to some of the younger players who didn’t experience it, you can see their hunger to achieve it too. We’ve had that effect on the younger lads, which is brilliant. Welsh football is in a good place – to qualify for back- to- back European Championships is a fantastic achievement.

After missing a lot of matches through injury in the last few years, what was it like to net the two goals against Hungary which sealed qualification for Euro 2020?

It’s been a pretty frustrating couple of years, picking up little injuries and not being able to get back to full fitness. It’s been a strange time in general – arriving at Juventus with an injury, trying to get my fitness back, and then you’re hit by a pandemic and have to start again. It’s been hard to get any consistency going, and that’s had a huge effect on me playing for Wales. I’m so proud to play for my country and want to as much as I can, but it’s been limited in the last few years. It was great to be part of that camp where we had to beat Azerbaijan away and did, then took it to the last game and won. To grab a couple of goals was just perfect. For me to feel like I contributed and helped the team qualify was important.

After 2016, Wales have a lot to live up to – can you hope to reach the semis again?

The final this time! [ Laughs] No, we’ve got a completely different team now, a young team, but who knows what can happen? We’ve proven that when we’re together, we can give anyone a game. We want to get out the group and see how far we can go. Wales got to the semi- finals last time and nobody would have imagined that. As long as you’re on the same page and heading in the same direction, stranger things have happened.

You’re re- treading John Charles’ footsteps, representing Wales at a tournament for Juventus, like he did in 1958. Could that experience of playing in Serie A help you?

Juventus is a massive club and it’s a totally different style of football compared to the Premier League, so that’s been one major difference. The expectation is to always win and that’s probably another difference – it doesn’t matter how, you just need to win.

When you arrived at Juve, how long did it take Cristiano Ronaldo to mention his goal against Wales in the Euro 2016 semi- finals?

[ Laughs] Yeah, that was pretty painful… he’s reminded me a few times since! But to be fair, he said they were fortunate I didn’t play!

Finally: any plans for a new hairstyle again before this European Championship?

I don’t know – we’ll have to see. There’s not as much hair as last time. It’s gone back a bit since then, sadly...