Gareth Bale insists the intense criticism of his Real Madrid form will fall on deaf ears and he is firmly confident of his abilities.
Having weathered a storm of whistles from the stands to spearhead Wales to victory in Israel, Bale spoke in assured tones about doing likewise in Spain.
Exactly a week ago Bale found his white Bentley under attack from irate Real fans after defeat by Barcelona in which influential newspaper Marca gave him a rating of zero. He has been subjected to boos from the stands and had his £86million pricetag mocked and questioned.
But in Wales’ hugely important Euro 2016 qualifier in Israel Bale was magnificent, scoring twice to move onto 16 in total for his country, level with Cliff Jones, Mark Hughes and Robert Earnshaw, and beyond the great John Charles in the all-time list.
Bale said: ‘I don’t need to answer the critics. I know, and everyone around me knows, what I can do.
‘There are ups and downs in football, you have to take it with a pinch of salt and all you can do is respond with your performances on the pitch.
‘I don’t feel I need to prove anyone wrong or right, I just need to play my football.
‘I love playing for Wales, it’s a big honour and the most important thing is I focus on my football. I don’t listen to anyone else or what they’re saying, I’m just enjoying my football with the boys.’
Bale was an image of relaxation as he flew back to Cardiff with his Wales teammates yesterday. He will enjoy some home time before travelling to Madrid.
Wales boss Chris Coleman was at the head of the plane perusing tactical notes. Job done in Israel, the manager is already looking forward to the visit of Belgium on June 12.
Emerge from that game unscathed and Wales will begin to smell the croissants. A point or more would bring to life the vision of qualifying for France 2016, a first major tournament in more than half a century.
That is thanks to a substantial victory in Haifa that removed any lingering doubt over this gilded crop’s ability, application and mental strength to succeed. The performance in winning 3-0 could in future be seen as era-defining.
Wales have been in promising positions before since reaching the 1958 World Cup, but have failed. The way they set about their business in Israel, who entered the game with a 100 per cent record in Group B, told of a team likely to make history, not repeat it.
Plenty of times Coleman has referenced this golden generation, headed by the irrepressible Bale. He set up Aaron Ramsey’s opener before scoring twice at the Sammy Ofer Stadium — a wonderful free-kick and composed finish.
To a man Wales were composed, with Joe Allen particularly good, and silenced a feverish crowd.
The team had also needed to block out some perceived dirty tricks.
Coleman revealed there had been a wrong turn and delayed luggage on arrival while some stadium floodlights also went out as the match neared the final whistle.
‘As a player I remember going to places, you know the shenanigans,’ he said. ‘We arrived on Thursday and the journey from the airport to hotel is 45 minutes. It took us an hour and 55 minutes.
‘And then our bags arrived three or four hours later. We used to get angry about it and you walked on the pitch wanting to tear someone in half.
‘So we just said, “Keep calm, we’ve worked hard to get here, let’s not do anything stupid. Be brave with the ball.” We were all of that.’ – Daily Mail