MX23RW : Thursday, July 4 03:25:08| >> :120:24872:24872:

Gareth Bale believes his fitness is 'timed to perfection'

Gareth Bale believes his fitness is 'timed to perfection'
© Reuters
The Real Madrid forward scored 16 goals on loan at Tottenham last season.

Wales captain Gareth Bale feels he is in perfect condition to hit the goal trail at Euro 2020.

Bale joined an elite band of players by scoring in all three group games at Euro 2016 in France five years ago.

Wales went on to reach the semi-finals of the tournament – losing to eventual winners Portugal – and Bale hopes to deliver in the European Championship again, starting with the opening game against Switzerland in Baku on Saturday.

The Real Madrid forward is confident after scoring six goals in the final seven games of his Tottenham loan spell last season.

"I feel good, fit and sharp and ready to go," said Bale, who ended the campaign with 16 goals and had the best goal-to-minute ratio in the Premier League – scoring every 83.9 minutes.

"I scored quite a few goals in the last three or four months of the season and my performances were getting better and better each game.

"I've timed my fitness hopefully to perfection and hopefully I continue that in this tournament.

"It would be nice of course (to score in every group game), goals win you games.

"But it doesn't matter who scores or creates the goals. The objective for the whole team – the whole nation – is that we win games.

"As long as we can get wins, or not losses, and get out of this group we will be very happy."

Bale, Wales' record goalscorer with 33 goals in 92 appearances, has actually gone 11 games without scoring for his country.

Azerbaijan Euro 2020 Soccer
Gareth Bale pictured during a Wales team training session ahead of their opening game in the tournament against Switzerland (Darko Vojinovic/AP)

The 31-year-old's last international goal came in October 2019 against Croatia in a European Championship qualifier which was drawn 1-1.

"Obviously I know I haven't scored for a while," Bale said.

"But I've made maybe six or seven assists in that time, so I'm still contributing in terms of goals.

"I'm not worried. I know where the back of the net is and if the chance arises, I'm able to take it."

Juventus midfielder Aaron Ramsey has won his fitness battle after sitting out Wales' penultimate training session on Thursday.

Interim boss Robert Page confirmed Ramsey had "no issues" after some recent injury problems and was available for selection against the Swiss.

"We are sat here with 26 players fully fit and raring to go and Aaron falls into that category," Page said.

"He's ready. I was fearful of him breaking down in games.

"We had a plan in place when I spoke to him a month ago about how many minutes we needed to achieve with one eye on Switzerland.

Switzerland Training Session and Press Conference
Skipper Granit Xhaka says the Switzerland squad have high expectations at Euro 2020 (Mike Egerton/PA)

"The build-up has gone really well, the medical team have got to take an enormous amount of credit for that."

Switzerland start the game as favourites having won the five games they have played this year.

"I have a good feeling," said skipper Granit Xhaka, the Arsenal midfielder. "We've had a good, long preparation phase and are looking forward to the start.

"We will take it step by step but the expectations are very high from ourselves."

ID:451075: cacheID:451075:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:9466:
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Gareth Bale in action for Wales in November 2020
Read Next:
Gareth Bale brushes off concern over Wales goal drought
>
rhs 2.0
Euro 2024 fixtures header
Friday, July 5
 
5pm
Quarter-Finals
Spain
vs.
Germany
 
8pm
Quarter-Finals
Portugal
vs.
France
Saturday, July 6
 
5pm
Tuesday, July 9
Wednesday, July 10
Sunday, July 14
Tables header RHS

Group A

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Germany Germany32107
Q Switzerland Switzerland31205
3 Hungary Hungary31023
4 Scotland flag Scotland30121

Group B

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Spain Spain33009
Q Italy Italy31114
3 Croatia Croatia30212
4 Albania national flag Albania30121

Group C

TeamPWDLPTS
Q England flag England31205
Q Denmark Denmark30303
Q Slovenia Slovenia30303
4 Serbia Serbia30212

Group D

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Austria Austria32016
Q France France31205
Q Netherlands Netherlands31114
4 Poland Poland30121

Group E

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Romania Romania31114
Q Belgium Belgium31114
Q Slovakia Slovakia31114
4 Ukraine Ukraine31114

Group F

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Portugal Portugal32016
Q Turkey Turkey32016
Q Georgia Georgia31114
4 Czech Republic Czech Republic30121


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!