Euro 2020: Prospect of Wales' 'Red Wall' at Wembley driving Connor Roberts for win over Italy
- Published
Euro 2020: Italy v Wales |
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Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome Date: Sunday, 20 June Kick-off: 17:00 BST |
Coverage: Live on S4C, live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio Wales and Radio Cymru, the BBC Sport website and app, plus live text and score updates |
Connor Roberts says the thought of thousands of Welsh fans cheering on the team in a stadium is driving him to success at Euro 2020.
A Wales win against Italy on Sunday would set up a last-16 tie at Wembley - with around 40,000 fans allowed.
"Hopefully we can get as far in the competition as possible," said the Swansea City defender.
"Who knows, maybe we can get more and more fans to get to the games to support us."
The runners up in Group C - likely to be Austria or Ukraine - would be Wales' opponents in London if they finish top of Group A, with both semi-finals as well as the Euro 2020 final also to be played at Wembley.
Roberts, who scored Wales' second goal in Wednesday's memorable 2-0 win against Turkey in Baku, would like to see as many of Wales' 'Red Wall' of fans getting to games as possible.
"It's one thing supporting from home but to be there experiencing it is another thing," he said.
Both the Football Association of Wales (FAW) and Welsh Government advised against travel to Baku as Azerbaijan is on the UK government's amber travel list, but hundreds of fans made the journey regardless.
Wales depart for Rome on Friday evening knowing a point against Italy would secure second place in their group and a last-16 match in Amsterdam against Belgium, Denmark, Russia or Finland.
Victory would mean a return journey to Baku's Olympic Stadium for a quarter-final tie - something Roberts would relish.
"If you offered that to me now of course I would [take it]," he said.
"I think being here [Baku] compared to Scotland, England and most teams, they have all been close to home and have been able to get fans there, while we have been halfway around the world and only a couple of fans because it's so hard for them to get here.
"But I think the hotel and the training facilities and even the stadium have been unbelievable over here and it's just a shame that there aren't any restrictions so that fans could have come over and supported us.
"Well done to the couple of hundred or thousand who were there the other night [against Turkey]. It is something that they will cherish forever, only a small handful and they were there on one of the good nights."
Roberts, 25, described scoring on Wednesday as the "greatest night" of his life and said on Friday that he still feels "euphoric".