BALE WON’T START

PAGE HOPING HE CAN BRING TALISMAN OFF THE BENCH

ROB Page has confirmed Gareth Bale will not start for Wales in their crucial World Cup qualifier with Belgium tonight.

The 32-year-old won his 100th cap against Belarus last time out but was withdrawn at half-time, given his lack of game-time of late owing to a hamstring injury.

And having been sidelined for more than two months, the Real Madrid star is expected to be among the substitutes when Wales host Roberto Martinez’s side at Cardiff City Stadium.

“He is going to be stiff. He has not played at any level for a couple of months and to throw him in to that game was a big ask from a physical point of view,” said Page.

“He’s done his own recovery today and we’ll leave it to the last minute to see if he’s able to play minutes.

“He was never going to start, we knew that coming into camp.

“The plan was always for him to get half in the first game and then come on and have an impact maybe in the second game.

“We’re giving him some tender love and care.

“He is getting there, slowly but surely. We will get him back to full fitness.

“He knows he’s not anywhere near what he could be, it’s a slow process for him but we’ll help him get there.”

Belgium are without Toby Alderweireld,

Youri Tielemans and Romelu Lukaku for the game in Cardiff.

And yesterday, the Red Devils confirmed that Real Madrid pair Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois will not make the trip to the Welsh capital.

Wales will be boosted by the return of striker Kieffer Moore who has served a one-game suspension, although Ethan Ampadu misses out after collecting his second yellow card of the qualifying campaign in the 5-1 win over Belarus.

The Red Dragons will clinch second place in Group E with a point against Belgium - with any positive result for the hosts set to boost their hopes of securing a home play-off semi-final tie for next year’s World Cup.

“That was our target, to finish second in our group, that hasn’t changed,” said Aaron Ramsey.

“If we manage to get a result on Tuesday we will have achieved it. That home tie is going to be massive but there are great teams in that pot who we could potentially draw.

“We have just got to concentrate on this game and try to finish job off correctly, then worry about whatever is to come in the future.

“We want to finish second in the group so hopefully we can do that.”