MANCHESTER -- Gareth Bale insists he has nothing to prove as prepares to play his first game in England since joining Real Madrid for a world record fee.
The Wales international faces Manchester City in the Champions semifinal at the Etihad on Tuesday aiming to secure his second Champions League winner's medal since joining the Spanish giants in a reported £100 million deal.
Bale missed the Champions League game with Liverpool last season through injury and will play his first game in England since leaving Tottenham Hotspur in 2013 as the Player of the Year.
And he warned his Madrid teammates how dangerous City can be and admitted he was surprised that they haven't reached the last four of the Champions League sooner.
He told a news conference: "I don't feel I have a point to prove -- I've played long enough to be OK about that.
"It's great to be back. I don't miss the cold weather too much. We're really excited. We know it's going to be difficult but we're looking forward to it.
"If anything I'm surprised City haven't got here earlier. They've progressed over the years. They've been a force in the Premier League and are starting to be in Europe. Hopefully now we can stop them."
Bale said that the team have learnt their lesson from the last round when they suffered a 2-0 defeat to Wolfsburg in the quarterfinals before fighting back with a 3-0 win at the Bernebau.
The 26-year-old added: "We're feeling confident at the moment. We've not had great performance away at Wolfsburg but we've learned from it and corrected it. We need to impose ourselves.
"We want to stamp our authority and win by as many goals as we can but it's going to be difficult.
"The first legs are always a bit tense, a bit cagey. It'll be great to score goals, but all we're going to do is give our best. Hopefully that'll be enough.
"No matter who you face in the semifinal they're a great team. They're here on merit. No matter who we faced it was a difficult game.
"We've looked back at Wolfsburg -- we need to be a bit more patient and not go for the kill straight away. We have to be smart -- attack when we can."