Reports have emerged claiming that early in the qualifying campaign, Aaron Ramsey admits he was jokingly telling some of his Arsenal teammates that Wales would make it to Euro2016.
The Dragons progressed to their first major tournament since 1958 by finishing second in their qualifying group for this summer’s European Championships which is something the Gunners midfielder could not foresee when things kicked off in September 2014.
Ramsey admits it is a great thrill to know he will be representing his county on the world stage after it became apparent that he would be mixing it with Europe’s elite in France.
“Normally I’m on holiday now,” he said.
“When the campaign started and we got those couple of wins early on I kept winding the Arsenal boys up saying ‘I’ll see you in France’.
“The way things were developing it was looking promising. To finally achieve it was great.
“To go in knowing I would actually be playing in the finals…..I can share that experience now with some of the players who’ve done it.
“I know what it’s like with other sports in the country, in the Six Nations the whole nation is there for you.
“I wouldn’t say I was jealous of rugby, but I wanted to experience that same buzz they get from the block where that’s all people talk about.”