Welsh star Gareth Bale said on Thursday (9th June) that being part of the European Championship was "surreal" as Wales prepared to face Slovakia in their opening match of the tournament on Saturday.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Gareth Bale, Wales:

"Yeah, it's been a bit surreal I think, especially with Wales having not been there for so long. I think every time when a major championship went on, I was always at home watching on TV and to be actually be involved now is amazing. I think the thing for us is we want to take it all in and enjoy it. It's a new experience, one we want to enjoy, play good football. It's nice to be involved in everything for a change and hopefully now we can do the nation proud.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Gareth Bale, Wales:

" Yeah, it will be a different experience. Obviously I've been playing for Wales now for ten years. It's been a massive goal of mine to get to a major championship and obviously we've achieved that but as I've said many times before we don't want to come here just to make up the numbers. Yes, we've done something amazing that our country hasn't done in a long time but now we want to do even better. So we're 100 per cent concentrated on what we need to do. We're well prepared, we've been training hard and come game time, we'll be 100 per cent focused and ready and ready to go 100 per cents as normal."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Gareth Bale, Wales:

(on the security situation in France)

"You obviously have little fears, Obviously what went on in Paris was not very nice. You obviously have things about your friends and family coming over but it's one of those things, you have to put it back of your mind. You can't let these things stop your life I guess and just have to try to live as normal."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Gareth Bale, Wales:

"No, we know every game here, there's going to be no easy game, there's going to be no let-ups as they say. We know every game is going to be very, very difficult. Everybody who has qualified is a very good team and they've proved that. We'll go into each and every game looking to win the game, looking forward to it. We know we're a good team ourselves, we going to go out and just try and enjoy it and as long as we give 100 per cent nobody can say anything."