INTERNATIONAL COUNTDOWN
"He's not spoken to me yet, he's just shaken my hand and wished me good luck. But he's going to give me a phone during the week and will no doubt give me a bit of advice.
"As for Ruud, I've not had a chance to talk to him about the game, but I'm sure I will speak to him in the tunnel. I don't know what I'll tell him, I haven't decided yet.”
Ryan Giggs on Wales vs. Russia:
“Personally, I can’t wait for Saturday. It’s 10 years since I was in the Wales team that lost to Romania and missed out on qualifying for the World Cup in America.
“To be this close again to reaching a major finals is my second chance.
“It’s not so much that I don’t want to be disappointed again, as not wanting to disappoint the country again by falling at the final hurdle.
“Everyone knows how much hard work has gone on in the Wales set-up over the last couple of years and it would be heartbreaking for the players and fans for all that to go to waste now.
“John O’Shea played for Ireland against the Russians earlier in the season and he warned me that they’re very dangerous in the early stages of the match.
“But John also said he didn’t think there was any reason why we couldn’t beat Russia if we play to our potential.”
Mark Hughes said:
“Invariably Ryan does attract extra attention and his reputation will always go before him. In Russian eyes he is the most recognisable player in our squad.
“But we are more than just Ryan Giggs. Possibly in the past a lot of our play has been geared to Ryan and a lot of the onus of our attacking play has been left to Ryan to create.
“That’s not the case any more. We have a lot of threats in other areas.”