Wales captain Gareth Bale trains ahead of World Cup play-off semi-final with Austria

Gareth Bale has labelled Wales' World Cup play-off semi-final against Austria as "one of the biggest games" of his career

Bale was omitted from Real Madrid's 23-man matchday squad against Barcelona on Sunday but trained on Tuesday; Carlo Ancelotti said: "He didn't feel well yesterday after training. He wasn't up to playing".

Bale has trained with Wales ahead of Thursday's showdown at Cardiff City Stadium and has been speaking about creating history by helping his country to qualify for a World Cup finals for the first time since 1958.

"It's going to be one of the biggest games I've played in for sure," Bale said. "Having not qualified for a World Cup before, it's something that I want to achieve, the country want to achieve and the fans want to achieve. I guess it's another big game we need to get ready for and take in our stride like we always do."