Euro 2016: Wales v Northern Ireland live blog as two British sides with a place in the quarter-finals up for grabs

• WALES take on Northern Ireland as the two home nations fight it out for a place in the quarter-finals of Euro 2016.
• Welsh captain Gareth Bale is the joint-top scorer in the tournament after scoring three goals in three games.
• Chris Coleman's side go into the match as clear favourites after shrugging off defeat to England to finish top of Group B.
• Northern Ireland booked a place in the last 16 on the back of finishing third in Group C including a 2-0 win over Ukraine.
• Refresh browser to update all the latest news, pictures and action from Paris

6:58: That's all from me here. I'm going over to take in Croatia v Portugal, kicking off at 8pm. Join me here.

6.55: So Wales progress again and they'll now face the winner of Hungary and Belgium. Gareth Bale reckons they can go all the way? Maybe they can but they'll have to play a whole lot better than they did today. Hats off too to Northern Ireland who gave it everything they could today and, at times, were much, much better than Wales.

6.54: FT: WALES 1 NORTHERN IRELAND 0

6.53: ALL OVER AT THE PARC DES PRINCES! WALES WIN 1-0 AND GO THROUGH TO THE QUARTER-FINALS!

6.52: BOOKING! Aaron Ramsey goes in the book for hoofing the ball away as NI win a free-kick. And NI have a corner...

6.49: Four minutes of added time...

6.46: Oh dear...

6.44: Ashley Williams can't continue. He's having real problems with his left arm after that collision with Jonny Williams. Or can he? No, he's saying he wants to play on. Make your mind up son.

6.39: OUCH! Ashley Williams and Jonny Williams collide near the centre circle and both men hit the deck in dramatic fashion. Two physios are on now as, on the sidelines, Josh Magennis prepares to come on for NI. It'll be Gareth McAuley going off.

6.36: That was very harsh on Gareth McAuley who's been exceptional again today. But here's another change with Niall McGinn replacing Oliver Norwood. Can they get back into this? They certainly deserve to.

6.33: THE DEADLOCK IS BROKEN! It's a sensational cross right across the six-yard box by Gareth Bale but as Hal Robson-Kanu is poised to tap it in it's GARETH McAULEY who slides in and puts it into his own net! Disaster! WALES 1 NORTHERN IRELAND 0

GOOOOOAAAAAALLLLL!!!

6.31: This is what yer man's feeling...

6.26: SUBSTITUTION! Here's a change for NI and it's Jamie Ward making way for the striker Conor Washington. Michael O'Neill's going for it. Well, kind of.

6.25: BOOKING! Steve Davis is next in the book for a late one on Gareth Bale. Interesting.

6.23: Twenty-five minutes to play and still we await the first goal...

6.20: SUBSTITUTION! Another change for Wales as Jonny Williams emerges from the dugout like Ursual Andress emerging from the sea in Dr. No to be replaced by Joe Ledley. OK, it's not really like that.

6.16: BOOKING! Neil Taylor gets a yellow card as he clatters Jamie Ward and suddenly this game has taken off. More like it...

6.13: Some really sloppy defending from Wales there as they gift the ball to NI and Oliver Norwood lamps one from 25 yards. It's an easy save for Wayne Hennessey but Norwood shouldn't have had the opportunity in the first place. Moments later, it's Norwood who fells Bale 27 yards out and it's perfect for the Real Madrid man. Here he goes... Great save Michael McGovern!

6.10: CLOSE! It's a peach of a cross from Aaron Ramsey from the right and there's Sam Vokes who gets his head on it but nods it a yard wide. He should have scored. And that will be Vokes' last contribution as he's going off to be replaced by the hero of the Slovakia game, Hal Robson-Kanu.

6.08: Northern Ireland have started this second period with real intent. They're enjoying the best spell of the game and Wales aren't exactly coping. They've got to make this count. Hats off too to Steven Davis. He's been exceptional.

6.06: Stuart Dallas is walking one of those disciplinary tightropes people always bang on about. He's on a yellow card and he's just clipped Chris Gunter as he attempted to break. I'd take him off if I were Michael O'Neill. But I'm not.

6.04: The Parc des Princes is a sea of green and red. Much like the water near Sellafield.

6.02: The players are back out and we're ready to go again. NI to kick-off. No changes made. PEEP! Away we go!

6.00: Not getting there...

5.59: Getting there...

5.53: If you're just joining us then here's a round-up of the first-half between Wales and Northern Ireland at the Parc des Princes.

12

5.47: And that's half-time! And it's not been great to be honest. Oh well. Go and grab a cuppa and a range of biscuits and we'll see you after the break. HT: WALES 0 NORTHERN IRELAND 0

5.45: BOOKING! Stuart Dallas goes in Martin Atkinson's wee book for a studs up sliding challenge on Gareth Bale near the halfway line. The Leeds man will miss the quarter-final should they go through. Turn on the tears Gazza style Stuey...

5.39: Eight minutes plus added time to the break and it's Northern Ireland that are shading this.

5.36: Can whoever is responsible for washing the NI kit please ensure you remove Gareth Bale from the pocket of Jonny Evans' shorts before you put them in the machine please? Thanks.

5.28: Gareth Bale's been very quiet so far. That said, he's just sprung into life and fired a shot in from about 20 yards out, wide on the right. It did dribble horribly and hideously wide though.

5.24: It's a fine strike from Jamie Ward as he pings one in from 25 yards and forces Wayne Hennessey into action as he reaches up to tip it over. Not sure it was going in but the Palace keeper couldn't take any chances. Well, he could but it wouldn't have gone down well.

5.20: DISALLOWED GOAL! It's a towering back post header from Sam Vokes but as it's heading towards the corner Aaron Ramsey nips in to stab it home. Trouble is the Arsenal man is a yard offside and it's not going to count. Great leap by Vokes though.

5.18: DID YOU KNOW? When Wales beat Northern Ireland 2-0 in Dublin in 2011 there were only 529 people in the ground to watch it. You can't get a ticket for love nor money today. Fans eh? So fickle.

5.15: Want an omen? Well I'm giving you one anyway. It's 34 YEARS TO THE DAY since Gerry Armstrong scored the most famous goal in the history of the Northern Ireland national team when he got the only goal to beat hosts Spain in the 1982 World Cup finals. Just saying.

12

5.11: CLOSE! First chance of the game and it's NI's Stuart Dallas who whips a shot in to Wayne Hennessey's near post but the Palace man is equal to it and turns it round. Decent strike that.

5.08: The Northern Ireland fans are bouncing around like primary school kids that have just breakfasted on Red Bull and Haribo Tangfastics. They're insane. Meanwhile, Ashley Williams wipes out Jamie Ward in just the way you'd expect him to. Textbook.

5.04: Predictably, it's Wales with all the possession in the early exchanges and you'd suspect that it's going to be like this for the majority of the game. Much as though they're dogged in defence you do wonder where the Northern Irish are going to get a goal from.

5.01: Martin Atkinson has tossed, hands have been clasped and huddles conducted. It's Wales to kick off. PEEP! WE ARE OFF!

4.59: And so to the anthems, starting with God Save The Queen for the Northern Irish and followed by Land Of My Fathers, which, as usual, the Welsh fans sing fractionally out of time. Who won? Think the Welsh just shaded it...

4.56: The teams are in the tunnel and the tension is tangible. Steven Davis is there, leading the NI side and, next to him, Wales' Ashley Williams. Ready? Here they come, led out by Captain Calamity himself, Martin Atkinson.

4.48: So we're nearly all set for this historic first meeting between any of the home nations at a major tournament. This is going to be a cracker, trust me.

4.43: BREAKING! POLAND BEAT SWITZERLAND 5-4 ON PENALTIES!!!

4.40: Good point. In fact, he's not even played yet...

4.37: Watch out for the NI the set-piece kings. Seven of their last 10 goals in competitive games have come from the fellas (four from corners, three from indirect free-kicks).

4.32: Just a quick note to say that the first of the last 16 ties, Switzerland v Poland, has ended 1-1 after extra-time and will now be settled by penalties...

4.31: We'll always have Paris, Michael...

12

4.30: Thirty minutes to kick-0ff at the Parc des Princes. How are the nerves?

4.24: FACT ME! NI haven't conceded more than one goal in their last 16 internationals, since they lost

2-0 to Romania in November 2014.

4.17: Are we going to see another Joe Ledley dance today? Hopefully not. It's not very impressive, is it?

4.12: After Clats did a decent job in the Switzerland and Poland game, your referee this afternoon is another Englishman, Martin Atkinson. Steady on with stretching there Marty, you don't want the boys to get out of the barracks...

12

4.06: FACT ME! Gareth Bale is the first player since Thomas Hassler in 1992 to score two free-kick goals in one European Championship and he's also now Wales' top-scorer in major tournaments with three goals, one more than Ivor Allchurch.

12

4.04: So here it is then, just to refresh your memory. Wales: Hennessey, Gunter, Chester, Williams, Taylor, Davies, Ledley, Ramsey, Allen, Vokes, Bale

3.59: BREAKING! TEAM NEWS 2! Wales are unchanged from last time out against Russia! Apologies for unnecessary exclamation marks.

3.56: BREAKING! TEAM NEWS! Here's your NI team to face Wales: McGovern, Hughes, McAuley, Cathcart, J.Evans, Ward, Davis, C.Evans, Norwood, Dallas, Lafferty.

3.50: Northern Ireland are without a victory in eight matches against Wales (D4, L4). Their last victory was in May 1980 when a goal by the greatest barnet in the history of modern football, that belonging to the mighty Noel Brotherston (below), secured a 1-0 win.

12

3.47: These two nations have met on 95 previous occasions with Wales winning 44 games to Northern Ireland's 25. No idea what happened in the other 26 matches. They last met back in March when Simon Church's late penalty cancelled out an early goal by Northern Ireland's Craig Cathcart.

3.44: We've yet to get the official team line-ups from the Parc des Princes but Wales are expected to field an unchanged side from the one that walloped Russia while Northern Ireland could also put the same team out that drew with Germany last time out. We'll keep you posted.

3.41: On a different note I've just seen the goal of the tournament by Switzerland's Sheridan Sahqiri against Poland. Oh. My. Lord.

3.36: What a game we have in store today. It's got the lot. Wales will start as clear favourites but there's no denying the spirit in the Northern Ireland side that's carried them this far. It's got all the makings of a classic, especially with Wales ranked 26th in the world and Northern Ireland ranked one place above them.

12

3.33: So how have you been? Managed to cope without football for a couple of days? Anything interesting happen while I was away? No? Quiet then. Come to think of it, this is a game between Wales, a nation that voted to leave the EU and Nothern Ireland, a country that opted to remain in it. They shouldn’t have bothered with the referendum. Just make this match a winner takes all job. Saved everyone a bit of time and effort.

3.30: Hello, good afternoon and welcome to our live coverage of today’s mammoth clash between Wales and Northern Ireland at the Parc des Princes in Paris. I’m Gavin Newsham and I’m here to talk you through all the action.

3.25: Talking of strange sunglasses, we're not sure how effective these orange lenses are. Must be a fashion statement though.

12

3.22: It's the last 16 of a European Championship, so cue fan with strange glasses and paint pic, naturally...

12

3.21: Northern Ireland fans break into song outside a cafe bar in Paris. No clues yet as to what they were singing though...

12

3.19: Supporters have taken the opportunity to take in the sights of Paris ahead of kick-off

12

3.16: It's a beautiful looking day in Paris, and the pitch at the Parc Des Princes looks in superb condition. No players can have any excuses at 5pm when the big game kicks-off.

12