Davies will be delighted to go fourth

BEN DAVIES stands on the threshold of his fourth tournament with Wales and still does not quite believe it.

The Red Dragons skipper is not one for openly showing his emotions but even he could not hide his pride at the prospect of being in Germany.

The Tottenham defender has been involved in two European Championships and one World Cup and will lead his country into another with victory tonight.

He said: “Welsh football was in a sticky place before Euro 2016 but we felt that would be our best opportunity to qualify.

“Breaking down that barrier shows that it is possible. If you put together a run of games, qualification can be right there in your hands.

“Time and again we’ve had players stepping up in big moments and the chance to do it four times is something I never imagined happening.”

Wales’ strength has been their form in Cardiff. They lost 4-2 to Armenia last summer and prior to that the last team to win on their soil in a European Championship qualifier was England in 2011.

“We pride ourselves on making it a tough place to come as a team,” said Davies.

“But it’s home. It’s playing at home. We get to see family and we know when we go out in front of those fans it’s our brothers, our sisters, our friends, our family.

“They’re the people in the crowd. And if we weren’t playing, we’d be in there as well. It feels like there’s more than 11 of us on that field.

“Any success we have stems from us as a team.

“All 11 of us working together. There’s no egos out there and we know we have the backing of the Red Wall. We’re doing it for them.”

On the prospect of facing the prolific Robert Lewandowski, Davies (right) added that “one sniff” of a chance that falls to him could end Wales’ dreams.

He said: “He’s one of the best in the world. His goal record shows that.

“He’s seen it all and scored all types of goals against all types of defenders. He knows what he’s capable of.

“We’ve got to be fully focused and dialled in to stop him. But we’ve played against some of the world’s best before and got good results.

It’s going to be the same.”