Bales brushes off suggestions of extra pressure on Euro Cup eve

He is the biggest star in the Wales football team, but Real Madrid winger Gareth Bale has denied being under extra pressure ahead of their campaign at the European Championships.

"I want to enjoy myself on the football pitch, like you do when you're a kid," Bale was quoted as saying by the BBC on Thursday.

"The Welsh side here now, we're all like brothers. We're friends, we joke around and play together but, when it comes down to serious business, we all fight for each other. We have fun at the same time. We want to come here and enjoy it and, when you enjoy your football, you play your best," he added.

Wales have struggled without Bale in recent matches. They were listless against Sweden in their last friendly prompting several critics and former Wales captain Kevin Ratcliffe to label them as a one-man team.

However, Bale refuted any suggestions he is the only attacking threat in the Welsh side.

"It's never a one-man team. There's 11 men on the pitch for a start. For us, it's a squad thing. 'Together Stronger' (Wales' motto) is there for a reason. We don't just say it for no reason," the former Tottenham Hotspur star said on the eve of Wales' campaign opener against Slovakia here on Saturday.

"We all work hard as one unit. We attack as one, we defend as one. When we lose the ball, we all fight back together. People write stories, they can write what they want, but we all know we work very hard on the training pitch every day and, come match-day, we work even harder," he added.

--IANS

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