Gareth Bale misses Wales training and remains a doubt to face Spain in Cardiff

WALES face an anxious wait to see if Gareth Bale will be fit to face Spain on Thursday.

The Real Madrid ace joined up with Ryan Giggs’ squad in Cardiff on Sunday but missed training this morning as he has his groin injury assessed.

Bale, 29, limped off in the closing stages of Real’s 1-0 La Liga defeat to Alaves on Saturday but still travelled to Wales.

But it remains to be seen whether he plays or not against several of his club team-mates including Sergio Ramos.

Wales are monitoring Bale on a daily basis and Giggs will not take any risks on his talisman with a Nations League clash against the Republic of Ireland to come next Tuesday.

Giggs spoke about Bale's fitness last week: "Sometimes it's not easy, especially for the likes of Gareth.

"They are in the middle of the Champions League, so there's a midweek game, and at Real Madrid you have to win every game.

"It's just getting that balance right, how many minutes he plays, whether he misses a game, and what's best for us and Real. Obviously, ideally I want him to play every minute of every game.

"We do a lot of work between camps logging the minutes certain players have played. Then we are trying to get it right regarding training and game time."

Regardless of his fitness, Wales plan to honour Bale with a ‘Golden Boot’ award ahead of Thursday’s friendly to mark his record 30 goals for his country.

The Dragons return to the Principality Stadium for the first time in seven-and-a-half years after playing at the Cardiff City Stadium.

Giggs’ side then go to Dublin for the Nations League game five days later.