Russia 0 - 3 Wales: Bale and Ramsey runs Russia riot

Wales cruised through to the knockout stage of Euro 2016. They eased into the last 16 with a deserving 3-0 win over Russia in Toulouse which will go down as one of the greatest nights in Welsh football history.

The Dragons' talisman insists the dominant 3-0 victory over Russia at Euro 2016 was the best performance he has ever been involved in with his national team.

Wales and Bale specifically were helped by the fact that Russia needed to win at all costs, prompting coach Leonid Slutsky to make changes and send out an uber-attacking lineup not unlike the one we saw late in the game against Slovakia, when they finally showed signs of life in what has been a Euro 2016 to forget. He replaced defensive midfielders Roman Neustadter and Aleksandr Golovin with Denis Glushakov and the far more attacking Pavel Mamaev, while also dropping Oleg Shatov and putting his faith in the old (and clearly unfit) warrior Roman Shirokov.

With Aaron Ramsey in inspired form and Gareth Bale running amok at every opportunity, this was Wales at their very best. It felt like their night from the very first minute when Bale went dancing through the Russian defence and forced a save from Igor Akinfeev. He was only just getting started

Ramsey underlined his importance to the Welsh, caused not only with his beautifully-lofted goal which broke the deadline 10 minutes in, but also a performance of real maturity and genuine international quality from the arsenal man in the final third.

Ramsey is the brains behind the operation. Every time Bale makes a run one way, Ramsey is exploiting the space left behind in the other direction. The second the Real Madrid star finds markers on his back, the Arsenal man becomes Wales’ most important player and on nights like this he seemingly revels in the role.

 

If there was any doubt whether Wales were going to get the job done it was extinguished when Neil Taylor made the most of a Bale run to slide home their second goal on 20 minutes. So rare was the Swansea full-back’s goal, it was his first ever at professional level and his first of any description since netting for Wrexham against Grays Athletic in front of 283 people at a fifth-tier fixture in April 2010.

From there, the Welsh attacks were plentiful. Each time they moved into the Russian half they looked ready to score more goals. If anything, they should have had an even bigger score line by the break. The ease with which Wales cut their opposition to shreds said at least as much about Russia’s questionable defending as it did about the Welsh themselves. Leonid Slutski’s side somehow sunk to new depths from those which saw them torn apart by England and then humiliated by Marek Hamsik’s one-man assault for Slovakia.

Their poor excuse for a defensive shape allowed Wales to pick them off at will. Chris Coleman’s men constantly had time and space to shoot on sight, resulting in a tournament-high of nine shots on target in their dominant first half.

They were headed home long before Bale completed their misery with the goal he’d deserved from his eighth shot of the night from Ramsey’s pass midway through the second half. That he’d managed so many efforts at goal in 67 minutes spoke volumes about Russia’s inability to deal with him. It also proved that Bale has everything it takes to be an influential figure at this tournament on a wider scale.

For Coleman, this was the perfect night, he has worked hard to fit the team around Bale and also fit Bale within the team and It's working. He would have been seeing a hundred different possibilities in his sleep over the last few nights as he attempted to weigh up how things might pan out in Wales’ push for a last-16 spot. A comfortable 3-0 win and a place at the top of Group B was the dream scenario coming true in the most glorious fashion.