England beware as Bale shakes off the ring rust
RYAN GIGGS has warned England that Gareth Bale will be stronger next month after his first 90- minute outing since January.
Real Madrid forward Bale won his 85th cap on Sunday, playing the entire game against Bulgaria after only managing 45 minutes against Finland last Thursday. Wales’ record scorer did not add to his tally of 33 goals in the double- header, but the team won both games 1- 0 to enjoy a 100 per cent start to their Nations League campaign. Next up they visit Wembley on October 8 to take on Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions in a friendly.
Dragons boss Giggs was encouraged by Bale’s efforts after he was substituted at the break in Helsinki, having not featured in Real’s last eight games.
Asked if his talisman would be fitter for Wales next month, Giggs replied: “Yes, that first 45 minutes last Thursday did him good.
“As you can expect, two days’ training and going into a tough away international game, it was always going to be hard for him physically but he recovered well. Speaking to him in the past couple of days, it was the best he has felt for a long time.
“I would never question Gareth’s professionalism and the way he looks after himself.”
Bale admitted he was way off the pace on his return in Finland.
“The last game I was struggling but those 45 minutes did me well and I was happy to get through 90,” he said.
Giggs was also impressed with his younger players.
“The strength in depth is getting there,” he said. “The likes of Dylan Levitt making his debut and Ben Cabango only had a couple of minutes in Finland, but it will help them in the future.
“We want the fact that when we are missing four or five players we’re not weakened, that there’s players that can come in and do a job.
“All the subs were involved in the goal against Bulgaria and scoring late has an effect on the opposition.
“If you keep scoring late goals, it gives you belief to keep going until the end and that’s what we did. I was really proud of how the players kept going because not many have played minutes.”