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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Alex Young

Gareth Bale ranks Wales’ World Cup qualification as ‘greatest result in history’

Gareth Bale has hailed Wales' victory over Ukraine, which secured qualification to the World Cup in November, as the "greatest result in history."

Bale, so often Wales' talisman, again produced the decisive moment with his 34th-minute free-kick headed into his own net by Andriy Yarmolenko.

But Wales goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey took the man-of-the-match honours with an outstanding display that kept the gifted Ukrainians at bay.

Bale last year said that leading Wales to their first World Cup in 64 years would be the crowning achievement on a trophy-laden club career, which features five Champions League titles.

Asked if Sunday's 1-0 win was still "the greatest game" of his life, Bale told Sky Sports: "Yeah, it's the greatest result in history. In the history of Welsh football

"I'm ecstatic, Wales are going to a World Cup. It's what dreams are made of, it's what we've been working towards... I'm speechless.

"We're so happy, we did it for all of our amazing fans, for our country... words don't describe how we're feeling at the moment."

"I haven't played much over the past four weeks because of my back spasm, which everyone knows about. I managed to get through the match, contribute in any way I can."

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