Euro 2016: Wales' Gareth Bale bemoans 'worst pitch ever'

Gareth Bale has scored 14 goals in 45 appearances for Wales

Wales' match-winner Gareth Bale described the pitch for their 2-1 Euro 2016 qualifying win in Andorra as "by far the worst I have ever played on".

Real Madrid winger Bale, 25, scored twice, including a late free-kick, after Andorra had taken a shock lead from the penalty spot.

The opening Group B qualifier was played on a 3G artificial surface.

"We knew it was going to be difficult from the word go. The pitch obviously wasn't great," said Bale.

"But it's the same for both teams and we said in the changing room before the game, no matter how we get the three points we get them and that's what we did."

The artificial pitch at Andorra's new national stadium had only been deemed suitable to stage the opening match of the Euro 2016 campaign six days earlier.

European football's governing body Uefa had been unhappy with the pitch after previous tests showed the ball rolled too fast on the 3G surface.

Andorra, ranked 199th in the world, took a shock lead in the sixth minute when full-back Neil Taylor was adjudged to have pulled the jersey of Ivan Lorenzo in the penalty area.

Home captain Ildefons Lima sent Wayne Hennessey the wrong way for Andorra's first competitive goal in 18 matches.

The visitors equalised through Bale's header after 22 minutes, before the world's most expensive player secured victory with a stunning free-kick 10 minutes from time.

"It wasn't the greatest of starts but we showed true character to keep going and come back," said Bale.

"It was obviously disappointing to concede a penalty, but it was massively important to get an equaliser straight away."

Bale, who joined Real Madrid from Tottenham for £85.3m last year, added: "We had massive possession of the ball and they made it difficult, which is what they're going to do to every team.

"But we showed our class and kept passing the ball as well as we could on such a bad pitch.

"It's always good to get a winning goal and especially for my country."

Wales host Bosnia-Hercegovina and Cyprus at the Cardiff City Stadium in October.

Bale said: "It's a good start and now the next game is another final and we'll go into that being confident and hoping for another win."

Cyprus created a shock in the other opening Group B game with a 2-1 win in Bosnia-Hercegovina.