JOE Allen and his Welsh teammates insist it is business as usual for the world’s most expensive footballer Gareth Bale, despite his current difficulties in Madrid.

The £86 million former Southampton and Spurs star, who scored the winning goal as Madrid clinched la decima last season, their historic tenth European Cup triumph.

However, despite winning two cups including the Champions League in his debut campaign, Bale has endured a difficult time recently with the notoriously hard to please fans at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Bale was booed earlier this month after Madrid lost in the Champions League to Schalke and his car was attacked by supporters following Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to Barcelona in El Clásico, a result that means Barcelona now have a four-point cushion atop of La Liga. A current Madrid fan poll shows 68% of supporters want the Welshman to be dropped.

However, ahead of Wales’ crucial clash with Israel in Haifa, Allen is adamant that Bale is as focused and happy as ever.

“Gareth is the same as usual, a world class player who every minute of every training session shows that,” he said. “It’s great to have him here.

“I doubt the Israelis will be looking forward to facing him.

“He knows better than anyone about the sort of pressure you face, but I don’t think he is fazed by it.

“It comes with the territory at a club like that and I don’t think it has too much influence on him.”

Striker Simon Church, who qualifies for Wales through a Newport-born grandparent, admits the rest of the squad are baffled by the current scrutiny of the 2013 footballer of the year.

“I can’t believe he is getting stick,” he said. Just look at his record and performances.

“But it’s part of being one of the best players in the world. The criticism won’t affect him. You saw that with the way he came back against Levante and got two goals.

“Plus, he’s been brilliant for us. He’s a great player and a really good guy as well. When he plays for Wales, everyone loves him.”

Those thoughts were echoed by Swansea’s Neil Taylor and returning Burnley striker Sam Vokes, back in the squad almost a year to the day that he suffered a career-threatening cruciate ligament injury.

“I’m sure he’s strong enough to cope with it. He’s a class player – and when it comes to playing with Wales he’s shown how passionate he is towards it,” Vokes said. The performances he has been putting in have been fantastic and hopefully he can carry on doing that and take us on.

“He’s a great player and he copes well, he’s a strong character, you have to be to play at that level. He’s buzzing around the place and looking forward to getting started, he’s enjoying his football and loves coming away with Wales. It’s another big stage for him.”

Taylor believes Bale doesn’t see half the stuff written about him in the press and is confident his confidence is still intact.

“Gareth is fit and ready, he turns up for every trip, he looks like he’s enjoying his football and is used to that world he is living in now,” he said.

“He’s got used to it, the scrutiny. As footballers we don’t take notice of too much stuff like that. If you read everyone’s opinion of you, you won’t get very far.

“The only opinions that should matter to you are your teammates and your manager, that’s who you need the backing of. I think Gareth has got used to all that. He won’t care what I think about how he’s playing, nor some reporter who has never played the game.

“It comes with the job over there with Madrid. You have to play well and score in every game.

“But as long as he keeps his head out the press, which I know he does anyway, he’ll be fine.

“He knows how good a player he is and knows he can influences matches. As a team we try and help him.”