Northern Ireland's players are confident in becoming the first side to prevent Gareth Bale scoring in the tournament.

Striker Kyle Lafferty said: "It's going to be a tough game and I agree that Gareth is the stand-out player, you don't play for Real Madrid by being average.

But we have one of the best defences in the tournament, so we'll be ready."

Some of the credit for Northern Ireland's defensive stability must go to full-back Aaron Hughes, and he's relaxed about the possibility of coming up against Welsh wizard.

"How to stop him is the big question and it's something we're looking at," he said. "A player of that calibre is always going to be a challenge but we relish it.

"What we'll need is a team effort because you can't deal with a player like that by marking him one on one."