| Venue: Baku Olympic Stadium Date: Wednesday, 16 June Kick-off: 17:00 BST |
| Coverage: Live on BBC One and S4C, live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio Wales and Radio Cymru, the BBC Sport website and app, plus live text and score updates |
Wales will aim to “silence” what will effectively be a home crowd for Turkey when they meet in Baku for their second match of Euro 2020.
Turkey and Azerbaijan are such close geopolitical allies that their shared motto is “two states, one nation”.
At least 30,000 fans from both countries are expected to be at the Baku Olympic Stadium on Wednesday.
“When you come into an away stadium you know you’re going to get abuse,” said Wales captain Gareth Bale.
“But it’s something all us footballers have dealt with in the past – it’s normal. You enjoy it and feed off the atmosphere.
“Of course they’re not saying great things or booing us but you want to silence them.
“It gives you extra motivation, if we needed any more. It’s the atmosphere we enjoy the most and that’s what makes football so good.”
Turkey captain Burak Yilmaz hopes the support will help his side recover from an opening 3-0 defeat against Italy in Rome.
“I would like to thank Azerbaijan citizens. They are our friends and brothers – since we came here we have felt it,” said the 35-year-old Lille striker.
“In Italy we were an away game, 100% from the beginning. Tomorrow we will be at home and it will make a difference.”
After Turkey were soundly beaten in Italy last Friday, Wales started their Euro 2020 campaign with a 1-1 draw against Switzerland in Baku on Saturday.
The top two sides in each of the competition’s six groups, as well as the four best third-placed teams, will qualify for the second round.
With Wales travelling to Rome to face Group A favourites Italy on Sunday, they could ease the pressure on themselves before that daunting trip – and take a big step towards the last 16 – if they beat Turkey.
Turkey manager Senol Gunes has described the game against Wales as a “final” for his side.
However, his counterpart Robert Page has played down the idea that this is a must-win game for Wales.
“No. There’s another game left. We’re just taking each game as it comes,” said Page.
“They [Turkey] will be looking at this game to get the three points. We’re totally prepared for that.
“It’s not all about the performance. In tournament football it’s about sometimes that you have to find a way to win. We’ve shown we can do that. We’ve shown resilience.
“We’ve also identified this game as one we can do all right in. It’ll make for an entertaining game. It’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be a difficult game.”
Team news
Wales have a fully fit squad to choose from, as they did against Switzerland.
Kieffer Moore, who equalised in Saturday’s draw, was booked in that match and another caution would rule him out of their final group game against Italy.
Page said he was happy with his team’s display after that game but hinted he could still make changes.
“There’s always going to be areas of the game we want to improve on,” he said.
“We’re greedy as footballers and coaches, we want the perfect performance. Alright it wasn’t that on Saturday but we got a point out of the game.
“We’ve worked on it, different areas that we need to improve on maybe. But if it all comes together we’ll be in for positive performance.”
Turkey also have a fully fit squad, with Gunes confirming Leicester City centre-back Caglar Soyuncu is available despite missing training on Sunday.
Match facts
- The most recent meeting between these sides was in 1997, when Turkey won a World Cup qualifier in Istanbul 6-4 – the only time Wales have scored four times in a game but still lost.
- Wales boss Page started in that game, having made his international debut against Turkey in 1996.
- Turkey attempted just three shots against Italy, their lowest total in a European Championship match. None of those efforts were on target.
- Defeat against Italy means Turkey have lost their opening match at all seven of their major tournament appearances. But they have advanced to the knockout stage the last three times they have avoided defeat in their second game (at Euro 2000 and 2008, plus the 2002 World Cup).
- Turkey’s squad has an average age of 24 days and 352 days, the lowest of any side at Euro 2020.
- Wales have only failed to score in one of their seven European Championship matches – their 2-0 semi-final defeat to Portugal in 2016.
- Wales have never lost a game in which Kieffer Moore has scored, while four of his six international goals have been headers.
- Gareth Bale has failed to score in his past 12 appearances for Wales, his longest drought since a run of 20 matches between 2007 and 2010.
- Bale has not scored a competitive international goal outside of Wales since netting in a 3-0 win versus Russia at Euro 2016.
