Saints are set for a history making night as skipper Jose Fonte prepares to take on Gareth Bale in the semi-finals of Euro 2016.

Fonte and defensive teammate Cedric Soares are hoping to become the first serving Saints players to feature in a last four match of either a European Championships or World Cup when they face the Welsh tonight.

There is plenty of other interest at St Mary’s too, with Bale, famously a product of the Saints academy, the leading light for Wales, who also boast Southampton-born Sam Vokes in their ranks.

Fonte is a shoe-in to start for Portugal, having impressed after waiting patiently for his chance, while Cedric is also likely to play.

Who Fonte will play alongside at the heart of a defence tasked with keeping out Bale remains to be seen.

Pepe trained by himself yesterday in his attempts to recover in time for the game.

The Real Madrid defender remains a doubt because of the thigh injury that meant he missed training on Monday. Portugal's staff continue to monitor his condition.

Should he not be passed fit for the fixture at the Stade de Lyon, 38-year-old Ricardo Carvalho is expected to replace him.

Pepe, 33, remains a key figure in coach Fernando Santos' team and plays alongside Wales' Bale at club level.

His potential absence comes at a time when Wales will be without the suspended Aaron Ramsey and Ben Davies.

For Bale, the tournament caps a remarkable rise since being spotted playing as an eight-year-old by Saints scout Rod Ruddick.

Real Madrid forward Bale is usually on his summer holidays when major tournaments are held, but not this time with Wales.

"I remember Toni Kroos (Real Madrid team-mate) saying we'd only have three games here," said Bale.

"So it would be nice to meet him in the final.

"It was a good laugh and a joke - a bit of banter - but I've had a lot of abuse over the years.

"When we used to lose and we were 100th in the world, people would say 'you have nine weeks holiday instead of two'.

"So it's great to finally be in a major tournament actually doing great things with our national team."

Chris Coleman's team have already gone further in a major tournament than any other Wales side in history.

The 3-1 victory over Belgium eclipsed the achievement of the 1958 side, who reached the quarter-final of the World Cup in Sweden.

But Bale stressed there was always belief in the squad that they could cause a huge upset in France this summer.

"We've obviously exceeded a lot of people's expectations, we understand that," said Bale.

"But we always believed we could go all the way - you see the fairytale of Greece and Denmark in the past and you think why can't we do it?

"We grew as a team in qualifying and we've just grown more throughout the tournament.

"The England game we learned from our mistakes of not passing the ball.

"When we've had to win ugly we've won ugly, and when we've had to play football we've played football."