Euro 2016 qualifiers: Bale shrugs off hostility at Real Madrid to prepare for Wales' big game
The squad have met up ahead of the crucial European Championship qualifier against Group B leaders Israel
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Your support makes all the difference.Gareth Bale has been booed by his own fans and had his car attacked outside the Real Madrid training complex – but he has settled back into Wales life just like he always does, according to his international team-mates.
The squad have met up ahead of the crucial European Championship qualifier against Group B leaders Israel in Haifa on Saturday, with Wales in second place, a point behind having played one more match.
On Sunday Bale was in the firing line after Real’s 2-1 Clasico defeat to Barcelona. Madrid newspapers ran polls asking if the world’s most expensive player should be dropped, and the majority of respondents voted yes.
Yet Wales midfielder Joe Allen said: “He’s the same as usual. He’s a world-class player who shows that in every minute in every session. It is great to have him here and I doubt the Israelis will be looking forward to facing him.
“I don’t get the impression that he is someone who is fazed by these sorts of things. It comes with the territory at a club like that and I doubt it has too much influence on him.”
Swansea defender Neil Taylor suggests Bale has grown used to Real’s daily dramas. “He’s fine, normal Gareth,” he said. “I think he’s become a bit acclimatised to how his life is now with stuff like that. I think you brush everything off quite easily. He’s played in enough big games now to be able to deal with all of that.”
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