Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale

Real Madrid: Bale potential impact in a game the forward has labelled a derby more akin to a Premier League fixture has played a part in England preparations, with the pre-tournament friendly against Portugal having been arranged in the hope it would pit the hosts against another of the world elite forwards, Cristiano Ronaldo, according to The Guardian. Those aspirations were dashed by Real Madrid participation in the Champions League final, after which the victorious Portuguese was granted time off to recover, thereby missing the match in London. Related:Gareth Bale says no England players would get into Wales team The manager was satisfied with most aspects of his side performance against Russia in Marseille when Wayne Rooney operated in midfield, despite England efforts being checked by Vasili Berezutski equaliser in stoppage time. But, where Fabio Capello had assigned James Milner to shadow Bale in the teams' last meeting in qualifying for the European Championship five years ago – the midfielder was booked after 20 minutes for bringing down the Welshman as the hosts won 1-0 at Wembley – Hodgson will not follow suit. I believe there probably more talk about it than anything else, said Adam Lallana, who is likely to retain his own brief in England attacking trident. Rather, he will encourage his own players to impose themselves on the match in the belief they will gain greater reward than in Marseille, while also acknowledging Bale will not be the sole threat from Welsh ranks. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.