Aaron Ramsey claims that the ‘banter‘ from his Arsenal teammates regarding Wales’ poor international record spurs him on.
The midfielder, who is hopeful of helping his country qualify for Euro 2016 to end a 58-year wait for a major tournament, has to contend with many of his teammates experiencing big tournaments on a regular basis.
“It [the banter] gives me more determination to try and hopefully achieve that [qualification],” said Ramsey.
“A lot of our [Arsenal] players have experienced that [playing at a major finals] and have gone on to win their championships as well and World Cups, so there’s always been a bit of banter between them and me.
“Hopefully now we [Wales] can put in a good performance and put ourselves in a great position and qualify.”
Wales are currently second in their group, level on points with Belgium who top it. The two sides go head-to-head on 12th June at the Cardiff City Stadium, Ramsey’s former home.
“I’m very happy playing at Cardiff. That’s what we have been used to of late,” Ramsey continued.
“If we were at the Millennium Stadium it feels empty with the amount of fans that we were getting. So it’s a sell out and it will be a great atmosphere there.
“The pitch is really good at Cardiff so there’s no complaints there, whereas the Millennium did tend to cut up a lot and it was a bit bobbly as well.
“But we’ve got none of those issues at Cardiff and the players are really comfortable playing there.
“The way we play, we get the ball down and play, so we want the ball running true and fast and we weren’t quite getting that at the Millennium Stadium, so Cardiff is quite a good pitch on which we can get the ball down and play.”
Ramsey overcame a knock he picked up against Hull thanks to former Tottenham oaf Tom Huddlestone and was able to start against Swansea on Monday night but, as we know, he was unable to affect the result of the game.
He’ll be hoping to have more influence for the Gunners in their remaining games before joining up with his country for their crunch tie with the Belgians – watch out for Fellaini’s elbows!