It will go down as one of the most famous victories in the history of Welsh football and the moment when the dream of qualifying for a major finals for the first time since 1958 moved a step closer to reality. Gareth Bale’s 17th international goal on a raucous night in the Welsh capital condemned Belgium to their first defeat since losing in the World Cup quarter-finals last summer and allowed Chris Coleman and his players to take control of Group B.

With four European Championship qualifying fixtures remaining Wales are five points clear of third-placed Israel and they still have two home games to come, including the visit of Andorra. Nothing has been achieved yet, which Coleman was at pains to stress amid all the emotion swirling around after the victory, but there is a tangible sense of excitement in the country that this group of players, inspired by the irrepressible Bale, are on the verge of creating history and achieving something special.

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Wales have now taken four points off Belgium, who are ranked as the second-best team in world football, and it would take a catastrophic run of results to deny Coleman’s side a place in next summer’s finals. Bale, a man possessed whenever he pulls on a Wales shirt, will surely not allow that to happen. He is a team player on a personal mission to get Wales to France and once again delivered for his country when it mattered most.

His seventh goal in his last seven games for Wales, after a calamitous mistake from Radja Nainggolan, was the difference on a evening that ended with the Real Madrid forward leaving the field to a standing ovation two minutes from time.

By that point Bale was running on empty, repeatedly breaking down with cramp and struggling to put one foot in front of the other.

“We had to take him off because he had nothing left and that’s what it means to him,” Coleman, the Wales manager, said. “He’s desperate to succeed with Wales. It was 50 caps for him tonight, a great way to mark it with a goal, an ice-cold finish, and someone with that talent has got to be at a major finals.”

It was also one hell of a night for Coleman, who not so long ago looked like a man whose time was up. The wild celebrations on the touchline at the final whistle said it all.

“That was the biggest win of my managerial career but I believe there is a bigger one coming in this campaign. I don’t know when it will but it will be the one that says we’re going to France,” he said.

All roads still point in that direction for Belgium but this was an unwelcome reminder for Marc Wilmots and his players that there is still work to do. Although Belgium started brightly and cranked up the pressure in the second half, after Wilmots brought on Romelu Lukaku to partner Christian Benteke up front, the truth is that Wayne Hennessey had few saves to make and long before the end the visitors looked like a team that had run out of ideas.

Wales defended courageously, and the three-man central defence of James Chester, Ashley Williams and Chris Gunter threw their bodies in the way of anything and everything on an evening when Eden Hazard was unable to bend the game in Belgium’s favour.

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Bale’s goal came against the run of play and was a gift he was not going to turn down. Quite what was going through Nainggolan’s mind when he tried to nod the ball back to Thibaut Courtois is anyone’s guess.

The only thing that can be said for certain is that the Roma midfielder, who was stood outside the penalty area at the time, had no idea that Bale was lurking on the edge of the six-yard box.

Even if the Welshman was unmarked and had plenty of time, he made what followed look ridiculously easy as he took the ball down on his chest and in one fluid movement pirouetted to sweep a right-footed shot on the half-volley that slipped through Courtois’s legs. It was composure and class rolled into one and lit the touch paper in a stadium that was bouncing from the first minute to the last.

Hal Robson-Kanu, whose persistence on the left led to the free-kick that Wales profited from to take the lead, would have added a second goal five minutes later if he had showed the same cool head as Bale. Toby Alderweireld’s poor clearance, after Courtois could only palm away Aaron Ramsey’s low shot, dropped at the Reading striker’s feet but he snatched at the chance and his first-time effort slid the wrong side of the near post.

Wilmots’ preparation for the game was overshadowed by a row with Schalke about the German club’s decision to announce only hours before kick-off that André Breitenreiter would be their new coach – the Belgium manager had also been holding talks about the post. He willed his team forward in the second half but a resilient Wales refused to buckle.

Wales 3-4-2-1

Hennessey; Gunter, Williams, Chester; Richards, Allen■,

Ledley, Taylor; Ramsey, Bale (Vokes, 88); Robson-Kanu (King, 90).

Subs not used Ward, Fon Williams, Henley, Matthews, Vaughan, MacDonald, Church, Cotterill, Lawrence.

Referee F Brych (Ger)

Belgium 4-2-3-1

Courtois; Alderweireld (Carrasco, 76), Denayer, Lombaerts■, Vertonghen; Witsel, Nainggolan; Mertens (Lukaku h-t), De Bruyne, Hazard; Benteke.

Subs not used

Mignolet, Gillet, Tielemans, Mirallas, Deschacht, Ferreira-Origi, Dembélé, Vanden Borre, Chadli, Dendoncker.