Ben Woodburn: Gareth Bale reveals he spoke to Liverpool teenager in 2015

Gareth Bale has revealed the part he played in helping Ben Woodburn choose to play for Wales rather than England.

Woodburn, 17, scored four minutes into his international debut to give Wales a 1-0 win over Austria on Saturday.

Born in Nottingham, the Liverpool forward could have represented England.

Bale said he sat next to Woodburn when Wales faced the Netherlands in a friendly in Cardiff in November 2015, adding: "I had a little chat with him... I wanted to get him on board."

The Real Madrid forward said: "We knew he was a great player and we're delighted to have him. He's Welsh anyway so he's ours."

Woodburn progressed through the age grades with his grandfather's country of birth, and manager Chris Coleman said he never doubted he would choose to play for Wales.

But he could have opted for England until he made a senior competitive international appearance.

Gareth Bale went for a then world record fee when he joined Real Madrid

'Mentally I think we all still feel 17'

Bale remains the youngest goalscorer in Welsh history, his curling free-kick against Slovakia on 7 October 2006 coming when he was 17 years and 35 days.

Woodburn's superb long-range strike against Austria - coming when he was 17 years and 322 days - put him second on the list.

But does he make Bale feel old?

"He does actually. I'm 11 years older than him," Bale added.

"We are all proud of him. Hopefully now he can kick on, keep working hard for the rest of his career.

"Mentally I think we all still feel 17 - me, Joe [Ledley], Wayne [Hennessey], Rambo [Aaron Ramsey], all of us - we're still young in our minds, maybe not so much in our bodies.

"We have a laugh with him and make him feel welcome. It's been good fun."

Gareth Bale is congratulated for one of his first Wales goals

'We had an ice bath... quiet night'

Bale said the celebrations were low-key after Saturday's game, with Wales facing Moldova in another World Cup qualifier in Chisinau on Tuesday.

"We had an ice bath... quiet night. We've got another game to play," he added.

"We're not a big nation and when good players come along we want them to produce and perform well. Ben's done that.

"It doesn't matter who scores the goals, it's a team game. When that individual scores we are so happy for them but also happy for us as a nation."