Gareth Bale marked his 50th international appearance by scoring a priceless winner as Wales took a giant stride towards qualifying for Euro 2016 by beating Belgium 1-0 at the Cardiff City Stadium.
Not since the 1958 World Cup have Wales featured in a major tournament, but they enhanced their chances of ending that long wait on Friday by securing a victory that moved them three points clear at the top of Group B with four games remaining.
Bale has had to contend with criticism for his form at Real Madrid this season, but the forward can do no wrong for his country and took his tally in qualification to five with the only goal of the game in the first half.
The former Tottenham man capitalised on a dreadful mistake from Radja Nainggolan to put Wales in front and Belgium were unable to respond despite putting the home side under intense pressure.
Belgium, on the other hand, suffered their first defeat since losing to Argentina in a World Cup quarter-final almost a year ago and Marc Wilmots' side slip to second in the group.
Kevin De Bruyne came in for the injured Marouane Fellaini in the only chance to the Belgium side that started Sunday's 4-3 friendly win over France.
Belgium started like a side full of confidence and Wayne Hennessey produced a fine save diving to his left to keep out Nainggolan's measured strike from outside the penalty area after the midfielder had exchanged passes with Dries Mertens 10 minutes in.
Courtois then produced a great save down to deny Aaron Ramsey and Hal Robson-Kanu fired narrowly wide when he had little time to react after Toby Alderweireld failed to clear as Wales grew in confidence.
Romelu Lukaku replaced Mertens at the break and Belgium made a blistering start to the second half, with Christian Benteke stabbing just over the crossbar after Wales failed to deal with a corner.
De Bruyne then showed lovely footwork to outwit two Wales defenders before unleashing a shot that flew narrowly wide of the right post.
Jan Vertonghen failed to make contact arriving at the back post in the 79th minute when yet another Belgium corner caused all kinds of problems in the Wales penalty area.
Bale was given a standing ovation when he came off with cramp three minutes from time and Wales held on for a famous win to spark jubilant scenes.
