Gareth Bale explains why he has altered his free-kicks in Euro 2016

Gareth Bale has explained why he changed his "boring" free-kick technique as he goes in search of a place in the European Championship history books.

Bale's dead-ball strikes against Slovakia and England have put him level with Michel Platini and Zinedine Zidane of France, and Germany's Thomas Hassler, in the history of the tournament.

A third successful free-kick against Russia in Toulouse in their final Group B game on Monday night would see Bale claim the record outright and could help send Wales into the knock-out stages of Euro 2016.

The Real Madrid forward's two goals at Euro 2016 - the second of which embarrassed England goalkeeper Joe Hart - owed more to power and dip than curl and bend and Bale admitted he had made a conscious effort to change his free-kick style.

"I used to curl them before but I stared a different technique because I found it more exciting," said Bale. "I found the curl a bit boring,

"This style of free-kick is more exciting. It can go 50 yards over the bar, but then it can look even better when it goes in.

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"The ball is definitely different from the La Liga ball or the Premier League ball and when you do hit this one nicely it does move a lot.

"So you do feel for the keepers a bit, but it's good for us."

As for the game itself, Bale's compatriot Joe Allen hopes they have no regrets at the end of the match against Russia.

A win for Wales would see them top the group if England fail to beat Slovakia, while a draw should also be enough to see Wales into the last-16.

Chris Coleman's men could even lose and still qualify as a best third-placed team if England beat Slovakia.

It promises to be a nervous night for everyone involved, and Liverpool midfielder Allen accepts that it could be a defining moment in the careers of the Wales players.

"You don't want it to be the be all and end all in the sense that you take your foot off the pedal at any time in the future," said Allen.

"You want to make sure that this is something that we get to experience again, but playing at this stage as a footballer is the highest level - and we certainly want to make sure that there are no regrets on our part.

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"We want to make sure that we throw absolutely everything at it.

"We're confident that we can get ourselves into the knock-out rounds and, after that, who knows what could happen?"

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