“If they did lose the final, it would be extremely tough to pick them up again.”Tonight’s friendly with Wales at the Millennium Stadium will be noted with interest by the Ireland manager Mick McCarthy. “But I must be realistic and see the immediate goal as the quarter-finals. Should I encounter any problems, then I will not be hanging on to my job.”V?r’s counterpart, Mark Hughes – told yesterday by his club Blackburn that they will not be renewing his playing contract – will be without his regular keeper, Southampton’s Paul Jones, and the striking talents of the injured Craig Bellamy and Nathan Blake, while Jason Koumas has been released to attend the birth of his child. Cardiff’s talented young striker, Robert Earnshaw, is likely to make his international debut alongside John Hartson, Wales’ footballer of the year.Ryan Giggs has been released by Manchester United for only his third friendly international, although the icon of Welsh football is still troubled by United’s defeat to Leverkusen in the semi-finals of the Champions’ League. “It was the lowest point of my 10 years at the club,” he said.

“Beating Germany with Wales would not make up for it, but it would be great.”WALES (probable, 4-4-2): Crossley (Middlesbrough); Delaney (Aston Villa), Melville (Fulham), Page (Sheffield United), Speed (Newcastle); Davies (Tottenham), Savage (Leicester), Robinson (Wolverhampton), Giggs (Manchester United); Earnshaw (Cardiff), Hartson (Celtic).. No wonder Scottish football fans turned out in force for the 1960 European Cup final between Real Madrid and Eintracht Frankfurt, tingling with anticipation as they made their way to Hampden Park on 18 May. This promised to be a game for the connoisseur, one perhaps to surpass any that had gone before. The names were legendary; Alfredo di Stefano, considered by Matt Busby to be the greatest all-round talent the game had ever seen; Ferenc Puskas who had twice ripped the heart out of English football; the speed merchant, Francisco Gento; Canario of Brazil, Luis del Sol of Spain. The Scots knew about them, had read about them, caught glimpses of them on television, but here was a chance to see them in the flesh, flaunting all that had made them incomparable.The vast audience of 127,621, paying a total £55,000 for admission, at the time a record for any football match in Great Britain, would not be disappointed.

They grudged not a shilling of that total as the West German champions, who had toyed with Rangers in the semi-final, winning 12-4 on aggregate, were swept aside by football of breathtaking virtuosity. The pessimistic pronouncement of Eintracht’s team manager Ernst Berger that his players were coming up against the finest team in the world found no argument on the packed Hampden terraces; recent history had proved it and what was seen on that memorable day confirmed it.In both legs of their semi-final Real Madrid had outclassed Barcelona who had themselves previously humiliated one of England’s most powerful clubs Wolverhampton Wanderers, the 1960 FA Cup winners. They were a coach’s dream with a collection of treasures from all over the football world. Didi, the mastermind of Brazil’s success at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, where they became the first nation to capture the Jules Rimet trophy on a continent other than their own, could not even find a place in the squad.As someone would write, Real’s only problem was to select the best from the best. It was resolved by the inclusion of Canario, another Brazilian who had been a reserve for most of the season, and Del Sol a favourite of di Stefano because of his intelligent industry in midfield. But as usual, in front of a sound defence organised by the formidable centre-half, Santamaria, there were the Real treasures.Although 34, Di Stefano had lost none of his energy, one minute orchestrating attacks in midfield the next arrowing at the defence, his movement constant.