GARETH BALE has dismissed Roy Hodgson's claim that he was being disrespectful when he said Wales had more passion and pride than England ahead of their Euro 2016 showdown.
Bale also said before Wales' opening Group B victory over Slovakia that England "big themselves up before they've done anything". Roy Hodgson responded by describing those remarks as "disrespectful".
But Bale said he stood by his comments as he addressed the media ahead of the England and Wales game in Lens in Thursday.
"It's good that they bit," Bale said. "People can say what they want.
"Someone said I disrespected England, which wasn't the case.
"I never said that they didn't have passion and pride, I just feel that we have more.
"Whether it's football or rugby or whatever sport it is, in Wales we seem to have that next level.
"We really feel it on the pitch, watching the games. I'm just giving my opinion.
"I'm happy with my comments. I feel we've got a massive team spirit, one of the best I've seen."
Wales have the early advantage in Group B after winning their first-ever game at the Euros, while England were stunned by Russia's injury-time equaliser in Marseille.
But Bale said he was not interested in playing mind games and that Wales' focus was only on themselves and not their neighbours.
"For me there are no mind games," said Bale.
"Nothing's fazing us, we don't feel any pressure, we just want to enjoy the occasion.
"It's going to be a derby, a big atmosphere. We know that, we're ready for it, we're going to enjoy it.
"We know we're going to give 100 per cent, and we know that when we give everything for the Welsh shirt and our nation we can't do any more."
Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere added more spice to the game when he said England had the edge as they have a better squad than Wales.
But Bale - who quipped that no England players would get in the Wales team - said: "If they feel they have the better squad, good for them.
"We know they're a bigger nation with more players to choose from, but we've closed the gap massively.
"They're a good team and, I'm sure if they put in a good performance, they'll feel they can beat us.
"But we're exactly the same. If we work well as a team, we feel we can win."
The build-up to the game has been overshadowed by security concerns after crowd trouble both inside and outside the stadium marred the England-Russia game last weekend.
Football Association chairman Greg Dyke said he harboured "serious concerns" over the Wales game, with Russia playing Slovakia in nearby Lille the day before.
But England have no plans to keep friends and family away from the game, and Bale said people should listen to the experts concerning security issues.
"We want the fans to go to the game and enjoy it," said Bale.
"If you don't have a ticket don't go to the game, stay out of trouble and enjoy the occasion.
"It's a historic moment for our country, and one that everybody should enjoy and not look back on with any regrets."
ends
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here