CHRIS Coleman is backing Gareth Bale to silence the Madrid boo boys and show his worth when he comes head-to-head with the Premier League player of the season Eden Hazard.

The duo will be in the spotlight on Friday at the Cardiff City Stadium, the talisman of the two sides currently battling it out atop of European Championship qualifying Group B.

It has been a campaign of vastly different fortunes for the pair, despite the fact you can separate their season statistics with a cigarette paper.

Chelsea’s Belgium star scored 14 goals and managed eight assists in 35 games on his way to helping the Blues to the title, narrowly beating out Bale who scored 13 goals with eight assists, but in only 28 contests as Madrid played second fiddle to Barcelona.

While you can barely separate the duo on paper, Hazard is adored at Stamford Bridge and lauded by fans and media alike, whereas Bale has endured well documented troubles this season, booed by the Madrid fans and derided in the Spanish media.

But Coleman believes it will merely fuel Bale, who has been in inspired form for his country throughout this qualifying campaign.

“When we played in Belgium, Eden Hazard had so much more of the ball than Gareth. That is how we set up and Bale still nearly won it for us and he stopped one on the line,” Coleman explained at an event with the Wales team sponsor, Vauxhall.

“His input was just the same. Look at the stats, they were very similar, although Bale has had heavy criticism in Spain and Hazard has been the best player here and rightly so. It goes to show.

“Like I say, when you come away with your country it is a different challenge and Gareth loves playing for his country. It means a lot to him. He senses as well that we have a chance to do something special.

“If he performs and Aaron (Ramsey) performs we always have a chance of winning. If they are not at their best they still have the capabilities to win a game.

“If you combine that with their desire to play for Wales, and they both know there are other good players in the squad, everyone is excited. I think, for Bale, he wants to play for Wales, whatever is happening in Madrid. They have a new manager and he has had criticism. But he was going through that when we went to Israel. He produced. I don’t see it being any different.”

The Wales boss doesn’t believe Bale will seek to end his spell at the Santiago Bernabéu any time soon.

“The league is physically and tactically different but at Madrid you have to win and with style. They are not called Galacticos for nothing – they expect excellence. If you don’t win or if they think you are not performing… but Gareth knew that before he walked in,” he said.

“But I don’t see him screaming that he wants to leave. It is the other way. People underestimate Gareth – he has a real determination inside him to progress and show people that either they are right to class him as one of the best or to prove himself to people who doubt him.

"He has a real inner determination to produce. I don’t think he will go anywhere. When you go to Real, you have to win something – simple as that.”

Coleman admits that Hazard is a player who must be given full attention at all times on Friday night, despite a gruelling campaign followed by a post-season tour with Chelsea to Australia and a friendly for Belgium at the weekend in France, which they won 4-3.

“We have been saying to our players it is a long season for them, we understand that,” he said.

“If you play international football you play in the summer, your holidays are cut short. Top players don’t have a lot of holidays because they are either playing tournaments or at the end of the season they are at big clubs on trips.

“Belgium have been together since May 27. They have already qualified for a World Cup; they are ranked second in the world. There will be no complaints coming out of that camp about a long season.

“Will it affect Hazard? He is good enough that it doesn’t matter how hard we work tactically on trying to stop him because he has a magic wand in his pocket and he can make something happen.

“It doesn’t matter what we do if he decides in any given moment he can do something magical. There are very few players like that on the planet. We have got one. You can’t really get the players together and prepare for that. They know that and I know that.

“What we can do is go, we know what he wants to do, and can we slow him down and delay him and guide him in a position where he doesn’t want to go. Very difficult – he is a great player. We have been there before – we have been up against them on more than one occasion.”

Coleman is planning talks with new Real Madrid boss Rafa Benitez, to ensure a good relationship is maintained with the club after they sacked Carlo Ancelotti.

“I know Rafa. We have a pro licence in Wales and I sat in once or twice and listened to Rafa. I have had some conversations with him,” he said.

“He has managed some huge clubs at the top and won the Champions League. He wants to build around Gareth, which is great.

“I am looking forward to having a conversation with Rafa. He needs to know what we do – we did the same with Carlo. Just to give them some reassurance on how we do things and that will be no different with Rafa. Not booked in yet but we will go end of pre-season, probably.”