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Wales national football team
Euro Champ Qualifying | Group Stage
Sep 6, 2019 at 7.45pm UK
 
Azerbaijan national football team

2-1

Pasayev (26' og.), Bale (84')
FT(HT: 1-0)
Madatov (59')

Tom Lawrence heaps praise on Chelsea boss Frank Lampard

The pair spent last season together when Derby reached the Sky Bet Championship play-off final.

Tom Lawrence has revealed how Frank Lampard helped him through the pain of losing his mother and says the Chelsea manager is "always there" for him.

Lawrence's mother Deb died when the Wales forward played for Lampard at Derby last season.

"If I ever need anything, he's always there," Lawrence said of Lampard, who joined Chelsea after guiding Derby to the Sky Bet Championship play-off final in his one season at the club.

"He was great with me with things that have happened in my personal life at the back end of last year.

"He's also helped me a lot and I'll always have great things to say about the gaffer (Lampard)."

Lawrence hopes to win his 20th cap against Azerbaijan on Friday as Wales seek to revive their Euro 2020 qualification hopes.

Wales trail leaders Hungary by six points, albeit with a game in hand, and are three adrift of Croatia and Slovakia in the race for a top-two spot.

But boss Ryan Giggs has been boosted by the fact that Lawrence, Gareth Bale, Daniel James and Harry Wilson have all been among the goals at club level this season.

Bale ended a scoring drought stretching back to March 16 with a brace in Real Madrid's 2-2 LaLiga draw at Villarreal on Sunday, although Wales' talisman did blot his copybook by being sent off in stoppage time.

"There's a few of us pushing for a start on Friday and we'll all be looking forward to getting on the pitch," Lawrence said.

"When he (Bale) is playing he's one of the world's best. Every time he can get on the pitch for Wales is a bonus.

"It always helps when you're playing games. When you're not match-fit it's never easy to come and play games.

"We can't leave it all down to Gareth himself, other players have got to chip in and help the team."

Lawrence has extra motivation to reach next year's competition as he missed out at Euro 2016 when Wales qualified for their first tournament since 1958 and reached the semi-finals in France.

The 25-year-old tore ankle ligaments having been part of the pre-tournament training squad in Portugal.

"It was a tough time," Lawrence said. "You're looking forward to going to the Euros and for that to be halted by an injury is never nice.

"I'd love to play in a major tournament. It was my biggest learning curve in missing the Euros and dealing with that.

"Since then I've come on a long way. It would be nice to get in there again."

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Group A

TeamPWDLPTS
1 Cyprus Cyprus00000
2 Georgia Georgia00000
3 Norway Norway00000
Q Scotland flag Scotland00000
Q Spain Spain00000

Group B

TeamPWDLPTS
Q France France00000
2 Gibraltar flag Gibraltar00000
3 Greece Greece00000
Q Netherlands Netherlands00000
5 Ireland Rep. Ireland00000

Group C

TeamPWDLPTS
Q England flag England00000
Q Italy Italy00000
3 Malta flag Malta00000
4 Macedonia N. Macedonia00000
5 Ukraine Ukraine00000

Group D

TeamPWDLPTS
1 Armenia Armenia00000
Q Croatia Croatia00000
3 Latvia Latvia00000
Q Turkey Turkey00000
5 Wales flag Wales00000

Group E

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Albania national flag Albania00000
Q Czech Republic Czech Republic00000
3 Faroe Islands Faroe Islands00000
4 Republic of Moldova Moldova00000
5 Poland Poland00000

Group F

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Austria Austria00000
2 Azerbaijan Azerbaijan00000
Q Belgium Belgium00000
4 Estonia Estonia00000
5 Sweden Sweden00000

Group G

TeamPWDLPTS
1 Bulgaria Bulgaria00000
Q Hungary Hungary00000
3 Lithuania Lithuania00000
4 Montenegro Montenegro00000
Q Serbia Serbia00000

Group H

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Denmark Denmark00000
2 Finland Finland00000
3 Kazakhstan Kazakhstan00000
4 Northern Ireland flag N. Ireland00000
5 San Marino flag San Marino00000
Q Slovenia Slovenia00000

Group I

TeamPWDLPTS
1 Andorra flag Andorra00000
2 Belarus Belarus00000
3 Israel Israel00000
4 Kosovo flag Kosovo00000
Q Romania Romania00000
Q Switzerland Switzerland00000

Group J

TeamPWDLPTS
1 Bosnia Bosnia H'vina00000
2 Iceland Iceland00000
3 Liechtenstein flag Liechtenstein00000
4 Luxembourg flag Luxembourg00000
Q Portugal Portugal00000
Q Slovakia Slovakia00000


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