Wales captain Williams dedicates win to fans back home

Welsh fans are frantically trying to book travel to Lyon in time for Wednesday, after their team stunned Euro 2016 with a quarter-final win against Belgium.

The victory has sent Chris Coleman’s side into the last four of a major tournament for the first time in their history, where they will meet Portugal, who overcame Poland on penalties on Thursday.

“You need a bit of talent of course but you have to work hard and that’s what we’ve done and we find ourselves in an incredible position”. We were unfortunate having two players injured [Vincent Kompany and Nicolas Lombaerts] and then we lost a wise old head [Jan Vertonghen] in training. Also, Ramsey has become the first player ever to manage 2 assists in a single game in a EURO, against Belgium. We could have played better but I can’t really explain why we kept dropping off. They never gave up and best of all, they never allowed any room for doubt to creep into their hearts. ‘It is there for us, we have had the belief we can beat anyone. “I thought “oh God, they’re going to kick our arses” but we just battled on and every chance, we put it away”.

Coleman’s men surpassed the Wales greats of 1958, whose quarter-final showing at that year’s World Cup in Sweden had been the country’s greatest previous footballing achievement.

But Wales built a foothold in the game and equalised before the interval with Williams burying Aaron Ramsey’s corner.

West Ham’s James Collins is likely to replace Davies against Portugal, while Jonny Williams could come into midfield for Ramsey.

Wales made one change from the team that defeated Northern Ireland 1-0 in Round of 16, with Kanu being brought into the front two alongside Gareth Bale.

“It’s not me against him”, said the Wales star. We played attacking football.

Wales turned things around after seeming to be outplayed in the first half of what was nearly a home game for Belgium just six miles from its border.

On beating Belgium, who are ranked second in the world, Ramsey added: “It was a very special night for us”. “We have a great team, great staff and great fans – and when you have the right balance then special nights like this can happen”. Everybody wants to achieve something special for each other. We are a team and we showed it against Belgium.

And Bale dismissed suggestions that the semi-final would be all about him against Madrid teammate Cristiano Ronaldo. Brazil would go on to win the tournament, the Red Dragons had not been to a major tournament since – and they were looking to make the most of their opportunity.