Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale has been ruled out of Wales' World Cup 2018 qualifiers against Georgia and the Republic of Ireland this week, the Football Association of Wales (FAW) has confirmed.
Bale was a doubt for the games after picking up a still unspecified muscle injury in Madrid's 3-1 Champions League win at Borussia Dortmund last Tuesday.
Blancos coach Zinedine Zidane has maintained since that the issue was not so serious, but the 28-year-old missed his club's 2-0 La Liga win at home to Espanyol last weekend.
Zidane had said that he "hoped" Bale was not risked by his country for the games in Tbilisi on Friday and Cardiff on Monday, but the FAW have now said that "following dialogue" with the European champions a further scan was carried out that showed an injury which ensures he cannot take any part in the two crucial qualifiers.
"The Football Association of Wales can confirm that Gareth Bale will miss the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Georgia and Republic of Ireland," the FAW statement said.
"Bale -- who missed Real Madrid's game against Espanyol on Sunday -- arrived with the rest of the Wales squad on Sunday and attended Monday's annual FAW Awards dinner at the team headquarters in Cardiff.
"But following dialogue with Real Madrid, Bale was sent for a scan and results confirmed that he wouldn't be fit to feature. Barnsley striker Tom Bradshaw will now join up with the rest of the squad later today."
Bale picked up the Wales Players' Player of the Year award for 2017 at Monday's gala, but for the first time in five years he missed out on the overall Player of the Year prize, which went to Chris Gunter of Championship club Reading.
It is now 18 different injuries for Bale since his arrival from Tottenham in summer 2013 -- the majority of his absences have been due to his problematic calf muscles (six to the left, two to the right) -- but there have also been back, knee, ankle and hamstring issues.
Although the precise nature of the current problem has yet to confirmed, the 28 year old is now expected to return to Madrid for treatment, and it remains to be seen if he will be fit to feature in his club's next game at Getafe on Saturday Oct. 14.
Wales striker Tom Lawrence insists Wales will not be fazed by the loss of their talisman Bale, despite the Dragons winning only eight of the 33 games Bale has missed since making his debut in 2006, and none of the last 10.
"He's a big loss, but that doesn't faze us," Lawrence said. "We've been without him before and will deal with it again.
"It's obviously a massive loss because he's a great player who plays for Real Madrid. But we've got a strong squad and whoever comes in needs to step and do a job. We've got a good group and they will want to put a shift in."
Lawrence started the last two World Cup qualifiers alongside Bale, last month's victories against Austria and Moldova.
He is likely to link up with Sam Vokes again, with Aaron Ramsey possibly pushed into a more advanced role and teenager Ben Woodburn -- who made such a dramatic impact against Austria and Moldova as a substitute -- set to be on the bench again.
"I wouldn't say I can replace him, I'm a different kind of player to Gareth," Lawrence said. "But I think I've gained the manager's trust and hopefully I've repaid him with performances and there is more to come.
"These two massive games are up there with the biggest that we have had and hopefully we can do it."