Asmir Begovic believes that Gareth Bale has "grown a lot" since leaving Tottenham Hotspur to join Real Madrid last year.
The 25-year-old, who joined Los Blancos for a world-record transfer fee, has failed to score against Begovic in five previous attempts.
Despite this, the Bosnia-Herzegovina stopper is expecting a difficult 90 minutes this evening as he comes up against Welshman Bale once more on international duty.
"[Lionel] Messi and probably [Cristiano] Ronaldo are two of the best players in the world right now and I think that goes without saying," he told BBC Sport. "But people like Gareth Bale are working their way up.
"I think he's grown a lot since he's gone to Real Madrid from his days at Spurs. He's become a world-class player, almost, now. So he's a huge threat, but it's a great challenge and something that we relish."
Bosnia are looking to pick up their first win in Group B this evening, while Wales will be hoping to push on from their slender 2-1 victory over Andorra last time out.
No Data Analysis info
Germany
Switzerland
Hungary
Scotland
Spain
Italy
Croatia
Albania
England
Denmark
Slovenia
Serbia
Austria
France
Netherlands
Poland
Romania
Belgium
Slovakia
Ukraine
Portugal
Turkey
Georgia
Czech Republic
