Skrtel hails Bale as Slovakia meet Wales in Euros opener

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Martin Skrtel will win his 86th cap for Slovakia tomorrow as he prepares to go into battle against one of the home nations.

The centre-back – who looks likely to leave Liverpool this summer – captained his country throughout the qualifying campaign and has been instrumental for them since the country’s first tournament as an independent nation at the World Cup in 2010.

He will face one of the toughest challenges of his career as he comes head-to-head with Real Madrid’s in-form star Gareth Bale tomorrow – but he insists Wales are not a one-man team:

“Of course Bale is world class, but it is not only him, the Wales team is not only Bale,” said Skrtel (via official site)

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“There are more players, a lot of individuals, so we will have to watch them all and analyse their game. I believe that we will be ready.

“Everybody knows Bale, I have my Liverpool teammate Joe [Allen], there’s [Aaron] Ramsey from Arsenal, so I think that they are all really good players.

“They play in the Premier League which is a sign that they are really good, and they have already proved that by qualifying.”

It is both Wales’ and Slovakia’s first ever European Championship match – the winner will have a great chance of making the last-16, the loser will face a huge battle to make it through.

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