Seamus Coleman has admitted that Wales forward Gareth Bale is a "world-class player", but says it would be wrong for Republic of Ireland to give him too much attention.

The two sides face off in a crucial World Cup qualifier in Dublin on Friday evening, with the pre-match talk largely centred around the hosts' plans to stop leading marksman Bale.

Coleman is confident that his side have what it takes to shackle the Real Madrid man's attacking talents, though, citing Ireland's exploits at Euro 2016 when keeping Zlatan Ibrahimovic quiet in the 1-1 group-stage draw with Sweden.

"We are a team which has played against big players in the past. I remember when we played Sweden in the summer, all the talk was about Zlatan and it's quite similar this time," he told reporters.

"We are fully focused on our job and looking forward to the game. As I said, we were getting asked the same questions in the summer about certain players and you have got another 10 players on the pitch you have got to worry about.

"We know he's a world-class player and we are going to have to be careful and get tight to him in certain areas, but we can't just fully focus on Gareth Bale. They have got a lot of good players and we need to make sure they worry about us as well."

Bale has scored four goals in Wales's first four qualifiers, but the last three of those have ended all square to leave the Dragons with their work cut out to qualify.