Bale rescues faltering Wales at home to Azerbaijan

GARETH BALE SCORED a late winner to keep Wales’ Euro 2020 qualification hopes very much alive with a 2-1 triumph over Azerbaijan in Cardiff on Friday.

Ryan Giggs’ men looked to be heading for a thoroughly underwhelming stalemate, but Bale – who was otherwise poor – came up trumps six minutes from time to keep them in the hunt in Group E.

Wales were dominant in the first half and played the ball around nicely, though clear-cut chances were hard to come by, with the hosts having to rely on a freak Pavlo Pashayev own goal to take the lead.

They had similar issues after the break and a costly combination of errors from Neil Taylor and Wayne Hennessey allowed Mahir Emreli to equalise, but Bale – back among the goals at club level with Real Madrid – nodded in towards the end to rescue Giggs’ side.

It was by no means a shock when Wales took the lead in the 26th minute, though the manner of the goal was certainly fortuitous, as Bale’s long-range effort deflected into the air and was then diverted into the empty net by Pashayev with goalkeeper Salahat Agayev stranded.

That came shortly after Harry Wilson had been lucky to escape a red card, having seemingly stamped on Richard Almeida.

Wales then wasted the chance to go 2-0 up just before the break – Tom Lawrence shooting at the goalkeeper after a Bale dummy released him into the area.

Azerbaijan were back on level terms just before the hour, as Taylor gifted possession to Ramil Sheydaev and he fed Emreli, who slotted home on the rebound after Hennessey haplessly fumbled the initial tame effort right back to the forward.

The visitors looked like they might hang on, but Joe Allen’s late strike ricocheted to a nice height for Bale to head over the goalkeeper and seal the victory.

- Omni