Euro 2016: Gareth Bale is the prince of Wales

Gareth Bale and Wales will play their inaugural European Championship finals game on Saturday mixing the joy of a special day with nerves over whether they can get back to winning ways.

The Group B game against Slovakia will be the first time that a Wales team has appeared at a major tournament since June 19, 1958 in Gothenburg, Sweden, when a 17-year-old Pele settled a World Cup quarterfinal in Brazil’s favour and consigned the Welsh to the international wilderness.

The years in between have brought a succession of failed managerial regimes and agonising near-misses, but come kick-off, the call of the country’s long-suffering football fans will finally be answered.

“It has been a bit surreal being here, especially with Wales having not been there so long,” Bale told reporters at the team’s Dinard base.

“Whenever there was a major championship on I would be at home, watching on TV, so to be involved is amazing. I imagined qualifying. It was one of my dreams to do so, but to make dreams come true is not easy,” he said.

Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey will line up with him, but Joe Ledley is due to start on the bench after Coleman said it would be “reckless” to start him just a month after he fractured a fibula playing for Crystal Palace.

While Wales go in search of lost momentum, Slovakia enter the tournament on the back of an eight-game unbeaten run that includes a stunning recent 3-1 win away to world champions Germany. Jan Kozak’s side also beat defending European champions Spain in qualifying.