Jordan Lukaku ratesย Wales' Gareth Baleย "slightly higher" thanย Eden Hazard, even thoughย the latter is his international team-mate with Belgium.
Speaking ahead of Friday's Euro 2016 quarter-final between the two nations in Lille, theย Oostende defenderย unsurprisingly picked out Bale and Aaron Ramsey as the two danger men in the opposingย ranks.
Lukaku even revealed he ranks the Real Madrid forward ahead of Hazard, who did not train with his team-mates on Wednesday due to a thigh injury picked up in the 4-0 win over Hungary, because of his greater consistency for club and country.
"Bale is for me perhaps slightly higher than Hazard. He's been playing longer at that level," he said.
"At key moments at club level Bale is the man and he stands there, while Hazard is still not consistent.
"The staff will devise a plan to neutraliseย Bale and Aaron Ramsey because they are the strongest players Wales have. So we will find a way to counter them but it will not be one player, it will be the whole team."
Belgium know all about Walesย after they wereย paired in the same qualifying group - Marc Wilmots' squadย failed to score in either meeting,ย but still managed to finishย top of the table.
Wingerย Dries Mertens acknowledgesย the Welsh defence will be a tough nut to crack again, particularly as they can alwaysย catch you on the counter.
"It's a difficult team. They are very good defensively, they play with three defenders behind," heย said.
"They give you the feeling you can score a goal but in the end they score a goal and have stopped you. If you don't play really well against them, you have a lot of problems.ย They also have a lot of quality up front."
Lukaku and Mertens could both feature from the start atย Stade Pierre-Mauroy, with the former a potential replacement for the suspendedย Thomas Vermaelen.
..... - Goal