Gareth Bale insists he has 'no regrets' about leaving Real Madrid after completing a sensational loan move to former club Tottenham and admits he 'grew up' in Spain.
The Welsh winger joined Spurs on a season-long loan earlier this month, seven years after he left north London for the Bernabeu in a then-world record transfer fee in 2013.
After helping Madrid win four Champions League trophies and two LaLiga titles, he found himself out of favour under Zinedine Zidane and featured in just 20 matches last season.
Bale became hounded by the Spanish media and the Madrid fanbase as he was cast to the sidelines and into the shadows of the LaLiga giants.
'No I don't have any regrets, no,' he told Sky Sports.
'I just try and play football, that's all I can do and everything else that's said externally is out of my control.
'As I said, I have no regrets of what I've done, whatever anyone else has said, that's up to them.
'I know my opinion of myself and my family know exactly what I am, so that's all I'm worried about.
'Obviously going into a different culture, a different country, I've had to grow up as a person, never mind a footballer.
'You just learn how to deal with the situations that you're in. Obviously I've been in immense pressure situations. I've had people on the pitch whistling in the stadium to me.
'So yeah I've just learned how to deal with those type of things, to not take it too seriously, take it too much to heart, and yeah just get on with it.
'It's football - something that you love doing and you just need to give your best and sometimes that's all you can do.'
Since Bale's departure from the North London club, they have moved to a new, £1billion stadium and reached a Champions League final for the first time in their history.
When he was asked what he was looking forward to the most upon his return, Bale said: 'Just playing. I think putting that Spurs shirt on again.
'Obviously it's disappointing that the fans aren't going to be there at the stadium for my first game back because I feel like the reception would have been incredible.
'But just looking forward to playing football, playing with the team, doing as well as I can, helping the team and having a great season collectively.'