Wales captain Gareth Bale (right) and teammates celebrate
victory over Russia in their Euro Group B match at Stadium de Toulouse,
in Toulouse on Monday
Wales outplayed Russia 3-0,
scoring twice in the opening 20 minutes, as they moved into the round of
16 at Euro 2016 by winning Group B on Monday.
Aaron Ramsey dinked the ball over Igor Akinfeev to finish off a
counter-attack in the 11th minute and Neil Taylor added a second, also
from a counter-attack nine minutes later as Wales took early control.
Russia had no answer to the fast, incisive Welsh breaks and survived
several more chances before Gareth Bale scored his third goal of the
tournament to become Euro 2016's top marksman, flicking the third past
Akinfeev in the 67th minute.
Wales topped the group with six points, one ahead of England, who finished second after a 0-0 draw with Slovakia.
Chris Coleman's team will now play one of the third-placed sides in
Paris on Saturday with every hope of reaching the last eight, as they
did in 1976. It was a glorious night for Welsh football in what had been
described as the country's biggest game since the 1958 World Cup
quarter-final.
Their players and supporters celebrated wildly while Russian fans,
who had caused trouble at the end of their first match against England,
slunk away.
Wales' Neil Taylor scores his team's second goal past Russia keeper Igor Akinfeev.
Russia now go home with much to think about before hosting the World Cup in two years time.
Wales, mostly on the back foot in the previous game against England,
rediscovered the attacking brio that had enabled them to beat Slovakia
before that.
Bale, the scorer of a direct free kick in each of the two previous
games to equal a European Championship record, was close with several
fine efforts before becoming the first player since the Czech Milan
Baros in 2004 to score in three successive games at the European finals.
Bale was outstanding in running at a Russian defence that allowed far
too space to him and Ramsey, and also in breaking in support of Sam
Vokes, the surprise selection in attack in place of Hal Robson-Kanu.
The Russian rearguard was not helped by their revamped midfield,
which showed three changes from the last game but were outplayed by Joe
Ledley and the tigerish Joe Allen.
Wales went at the opposition from the first minute. Bale set the tone
by coming inside and hitting a fierce shot that Akinfeev could not
hold.
Russia survived that but were
behind when Allen played a perfect through ball for Ramsey, just onside,
to place his shot over Akinfeev.
Before a quarter of the game had been played they were two goals to
the good, Taylor taking advantage of an involuntary jab by Russian
captain Roman Shirokov to score at the second attempt.
It was the first international goal from a player who last scored at club level six years ago.
Bale made chances for Vokes and Ramsey before the end of a first half
in which Russia's only threatening moment stemmed from a long clearance
by Akinfeev.
Ashley Williams could not control it and Wayne Hennessey had to save from Artem Dzyuba at close range.
As in the 2-1 defeat by Slovakia, Russian coach Leonid Slutski made
two early changes in the second half but this time there was no great
improvement.
Ramsey, named man of the match, put Bale in for a chip that Akinfeev
managed to touch wide of the far post and when the pair repeated their
combination, the goalkeeper's slight touch could not prevent a third
goal.
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