Bale: Football is my biggest passion, golf is a hobby Real Madrid Discussed his turbulent summer

Wales will face Azerbaijan on Friday night at 20:45 CEST and ahead of the game, Gareth Bale answered a whole host of Real Madrid-related questions at the Dragons' pre-match press conference.

Bale has had a turbulent summer, which almost culminated in him leaving Los Blancos for the Chinese Super League, but he has managed to force his way back into Zinedine Zidane's plans.

Particularly in the early part of the summer, it was notable how keen Madrid were to part ways with the former Tottenham Hotspur star, while Bale's interest in golf - which saw him labelled 'the golfer' by Thibaut Courtois - has often been a talking point as some believe he is not 100 percent focussed on football, a theory he wanted to debunk.

"I am a golfer. Have you not seen the pictures?" Bale said jokingly when asked about Courtois' nickname for him.

"I spoke to him [Courtois] about it and he said it was a joke. People took it out of context, but I'm very happy with the nickname to be honest.

"Obviously football is my biggest passion. Golf is a hobby like anyone else would have a hobby. There's nothing wrong with having a round [of golf] and people make a big deal out of it."

There were many negative things said about Bale this summer in relation to his future, too, but the 30-year-old does not read or listen to it.

"I don't listen to them [the critics] because they don't really know what they are on about," Bale explained.

"I don't read anything, I don't listen to anyone.

"I know most people don't know the situation, don't understand the situation. What they write means nothing."

Despite a summer in which a lot of uncertainty surrounded him, Bale remained calm.

"I had a great summer holiday," he added.

"Coming back to pre-season I just kept my head down. I know there was a lot of talk with everybody saying good, bad, whatever they wanted. I just kept my head down, kept working hard in training.

"The things that happened will stay private with the club. If you want answers, maybe you need to ask Real Madrid."

Interestingly, Bale has been one of the few Madrid attackers to have not picked up an injury so far this season, something he puts down to being smarter in terms of his fitness regime.

"I feel good. I feel probably stronger than ever at the moment," he noted.

"When you get older you learn from mistakes in the past, doing a bit more prevention work in the gym and keeping yourself fitter.

"I feel in very good shape, hopefully I can stay on top of that and keep playing well."