“Gareth Bale’s won two Champions Leagues in the last two years. When he plays, we predominantly win. When he plays well for Real Madrid, Real Madrid predominantly win. He’s a world-class player, he’s worth £100m. And have him in our ranks. If he has a good performance, he is very very difficult to stop.

“What happens when Bale comes to play for Wales, he gives the rest of the team a lift because they all know they have to raise their standards. It’s like if Roy Keane was taking to the pitch on Friday night, the rest of the players know they must raise their game. When he takes to the pitch — that superstar of Real Madrid, that incredible specimen of a man that he is — he is a Ferrari, he’s 0 to 60 in four seconds. He takes it and, zoom, he’s gone.

“It’s going to be interesting because Seamus Coleman is a top class defender, he’s the captain, and I have a lot of time for Seamus Coleman.

“If Gareth just puts himself over onto the left side, that battle between Coleman and Bale could be pivotal.

“Overall, we’re going to face a very well organised team, a team that is going to graft and work hard together. A team of players that will go to the very very last kick of the game. I think you saw that in the Euros, with Robbie Brady scoring that late goal against Italy. A team that beat Bosnia – the only team to beat Wales in the qualifiers – when you played them in the play-offs. A team that beat Germany. With a manager that has got a habit of winning big games. So we know what we’re up against.

“But Ireland will have no Brady, no Hoolahan, no Clark at the back — that’s three big players that are missing, Hoolahan and Brady are arguably two of your best players. If Wales were missing Bale and Ramsey, you’d probably feel a bit more confident then. All these things come to account. But we will have massive respect for the Irish team. We expect a difficult game, we don’t expect anything less from the Republic of Ireland. “