At the final whistle, Wales’s players and staff went on a lap of appreciation amid a cheery chorus of Frankie Valli’s Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, an unofficial fans’ anthem since the 90s. The hearty send-off did not marry with a humdrum stalemate against a team ranked 66 in the world but the result was always going to be worthless and, with all of the cavalry through unscathed, now it is destination Azerbaijan, the European Championship on the horizon.
Aaron Ramsey started his first Wales game since October and Gareth Bale was a late substitute but a largely experimental side struggled to penetrate Albania for long spells. One of the biggest pluses was Ramsey shaking off a kick to the shin that left him grounded seconds into the second half. “The positive is there’s no injuries,” said the interim manager, Robert Page.