Former Wales star Gareth Bale, who retired in January, will be honoured by Welsh fans at Wales’ Euro 2024 qualifier against Latvia in Cardiff on Tuesday.
The former captain announced his retirement from football in January after making 111 appearances and scoring 41 goals – both team records – during a remarkable 16-year international career.
The 33-year-old former Real Madrid striker played his last World Cup game in November and will arrive in Cardiff from his home in Los Angeles before kick-off. Bale is expected to address the Welsh fans before the game.
Gareth Bale will be at Cardiff City Stadium tomorrow night. There will be an opportunity before the game for ‘The Red Wall’ (Wales fans) to show their appreciation to the Cymru legend,» the Football Association of Wales said on its official Twitter account on Monday.
Bale’s return comes as Cardiff City Stadium is sold out following Wales’ opening Euro qualifier, a 1-1 draw in Croatia. Fulham’s Luke Harris was handed Bale’s number 11 jersey, although he did not play.
Head coach Rob Page expects »an incredible atmosphere» on the pitch. We’ve sold 32,000 tickets. Croatia is the benchmark for us; we played a great team in Croatia and not many people get a good result there, and we did it with an incomplete squad. It was a tough start away from home and we can build on that,» he said.
Wales, again without the injured Ben Davies and Brennan Johnson, are expected to be unchanged from the side that faced the World Cup semi-finalists in Split. In addition to Nathan Broadhead, scorer of the equaliser against the Balkan side, Birmingham midfielder Jordan James also made his debut, with four other uncapped players on the bench.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
