Gareth Bale has stated that Portugal stifled the Wales attacking line-up in their semi-final encounter on Wednesday night.

Wales suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Portugal in the final four of Euro2016 and the Dragons certainly could not produce their best performance having played so freely throughout the tournament.

Star attacker Bale endured a largely frustrating time on the pitch and following the game, the Real Madrid man suggested that Wales found it difficult to create too many chances as the Portugal side 'shut up shop'.

Bale said: "I think they shut up shop quite well and limited our opportunities, which is fair dues to them. But we gave it everything and we have no regrets.

"We tried to get something out of the game, we fought until the last second.

"We would have obviously liked to get to the final and challenged for the trophy but it wasn't meant to be. We are very proud and we take that confidence into the next campaign.

"We've tried to enjoy the tournament experience and we want to thank the fans. The support we've had has been absolutely incredible."

Bale's Madrid teammate Cristiano Ronaldo scored the opening goal with a thundering header in the 50th minute before Nani converted Ronaldo's cross-shot less than three minutes later.