Roy Hodgson believes England's Euro 2016 meeting with Wales is a clash "between brothers", despite Gareth Bale's pre-match comments hinting at a family feud.

While Bale has twice claimed that England cannot match his side for passion, as well as claiming none of Hodgson's players would make the Welsh XI, the responses have been reserved by comparison.

Hodgson again declined to return fire on the eve of the match, insisting neither he nor his players are concerned by words from the Welsh dressing room.

Instead, he is savouring the occasion in Lens.

"Talk is talk; action on the field is action on the field," he said.

"If we really took it seriously, thinking about what people in the other team are saying, and allowed it to affect our concentration, we'd be very ashamed of ourselves.

"The reality of football rests on that patch of green between 90 and 95 minutes.

"Whichever team is going to win has to do it on the field of play and by scoring more goals than the opposition.

"The fact that it's a game between brothers, if you like, adds spice to it and interest. That's something I can only welcome.

"If anything it heightens the occasion, rather than lessens it."

Predictably, Hodgson and captain Wayne Rooney were invited to match Bale by giving their own composite starting XI from the two squads.

After Rooney deftly deferred to the coach, Hodgson said: "That's a question journalists in the mass media and maybe many a fan would be asking, but I've never, ever considered it as a coach of a team.

"It's a matter of total disinterest to me. None of those Welsh players are available to play for England.

"I'll leave you to come up with the answer to that. Have a quiz amongst yourselves. I'd be interested to see what results you come up with."

While England have not played Wales since 2011, Hodgson has overseen three matches against local opponents - beating Scotland in 2013 and 2014 before drawing against the Republic of Ireland last summer.

All of those were friendlies, though, placing a ceiling on what can be learned.

"There was a lot of hype around the Scotland game, like there is around this one, but this is more special," said Hodgson.

"It's an important tournament where both sides have worked very hard to qualify and have been looking forward to it for a long time.

"The others were bragging rights situations, against Scotland and Ireland. Tough games, and good games, but this game is different.

"It's a tournament and important points are at stake here."

Bale, meanwhile, says he can handle the rough stuff if England choose to get physical with him in Lens.

Asked if he was expecting a couple of kicks from England players, Bale said: "That's normal.

"You always get it. They (Slovakia) had a nice nibble on Saturday.

"I don't think I've said anything to be bad to be honest. I've given my opinion what our country is about."

How England decide to deal with the Real Madrid star could be one of the major influences on the game.

But Bale says he does not care if England choose to man-mark him for 90 minutes.

"I'll just move the player out the way and create some space. It doesn't bother me," he said.

"If I don't get the ball I will stand on the wing, he can stand next to me and there will be a massive hole in the middle.

"But I feel like I'm playing really well and that I can keep on improving."

It has been suggested that England centre-backs Chris Smalling and Gary Cahill might struggle to cope with Bale's pace and movement.

Cahill is certainly not the quickest defender around and Smalling was sent off in the FA Cup final for Manchester United last month when he was exposed in a couple of one-on-one situations.

"The centre-backs are obviously good players - they play for Manchester United and Chelsea," said Bale. "They're no pushovers, but we know their weaknesses from what we've seen.

"We'll be keeping that to ourselves and trying to exploit it on game day.

"It doesn't matter who we are playing against. When we pull on the red jersey we fight together as a team."