Football Soccer - Wales v Belgium - EURO 2016 - Quarter Final - Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Lille, France - 1/7/16 - Wales' Gareth Bale celebrates with team mates after the match. REUTERS/Charles Platiau
Football Soccer – Wales v Belgium – EURO 2016 – Quarter Final – Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Lille,Wales’ Gareth Bale celebrates with team mates after the match. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

Wales reached the semi-finals of a major tournament for the first time after a stirring fightback to defeat Belgium in the European Championship quarter-final in Lille.

Radja Nainggolan put Belgium ahead with a thunderous 25-yard strike but Wales captain Ashley Williams headed in from a corner to equalise in a breathless first half littered with chances at both ends.

Welsh celebrations reached stratospheric levels when Hal Robson-Kanu, a striker without a club, gave them the lead with a divine turn and finish.

After withstanding late Belgium pressure, Wales sealed victory through a header from substitute Sam Vokes that set up a semi-final against Portugal and a mouth-watering duel between Real Madrid team-mates Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Wales manager Chris Coleman had described the last-eight tie as Wales’ biggest match since their 1958 World Cup quarter-final defeat by Brazil, their only previous appearance in the knockout stages of a major tournament.

His players rose to the occasion wonderfully, recovering from a difficult start to claim what must rank as the greatest win in Welsh football history.

Ranked second in the world, Belgium were strong favourites and under pressure to deliver with a prodigiously talented generation of players.

Yet despite being roared on by what must have felt like a home crowd only 10 miles from the Belgian border, Marc Wilmots’ side were blown away by a magnificent Welsh performance.

The only sour note was a yellow card apiece for Aaron Ramsey and Ben Davies, who will both be suspended for the semi-final after earning a second caution of the tournament.

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