Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Diego (Maradona) has filled us with emotions. But between the cracks, without doubt, Messi is better than Maradona.
You have to attack to get corners, no? Winning by scoring strategic goals doesn't bother me - it's part of the game.
Busquets reads everything. Players like Busquets or Xabi Alonso in midfield have the capacity to read the whole game.
If there is one thing I am, it is very hard-headed. If I want something, I go after it - and I go after it ad nauseum.
Whether you like Mourinho's style or not is open to discussion but he has won in different places and this has a lot of merit.
Artificial pitches are just one more condition for us, like sun, wind or snow; we should be able to deal with such conditions.
What I'm trying to say is that within the styles, first, there's something clear: the style is given by the players on the roster.
He who brings a style to a club that can't carry it out, he is not a good manager, because he is attacking the club that hires him.
Catania was a real learning curve. I grew amid difficulties. In terms of courage and ideas, a lot about my Atleti comes from Italy.
The characteristics of people according to their star sign are similar, and we pay attention to how we can get the best out of them.
As a player, you can be more spontaneous and instinctive, but now as a coach I have to find a psychological balance within the team.
When coaches arrive at a club, we need to understand its history. If we don't understand it, then we are destined to have a bad time.
Whenever a fellow coach is sacked it is not good for any of us - it hurts. You just have to accept it because it is part of the game.
I went a week to see Mourinho at training, and another week with Guardiola. I learned from the two, I took important things from both.
Football is not just in Europe, there is football all over the world so I am always open to the idea of managing anywhere in the world.
Defeats are always tough, whatever you have lost, and they affect me the same way they affect anyone who loses a match - no more or less.
My role is to take the player to his limits, to provoke him, to annoy him against me, because in this nervousness is the will to improve.
At some point, I would like to coach Argentina, but I have to improve as a coach. I would like to do it in the final stretch of my career.
VAR exposes everything. Before we didn't have the possibility of seeing some things that we now see. The referees are people who can be wrong as well.
With any possibly erroneous decision, you can always look back and think you could've done something differently - but always with the benefit of hindsight.
The teams that defend well are as important as those that attack well. If you don't concede goals it is much easier to win but it is all about having balance.
It's not enough to just have talent at Atletico Madrid. At other clubs it is, but we can't sign superstars and have to look for players with a good work ethic.
The hardest thing in life is reinventing yourself and staying at the top of your game, whilst the hardest thing in football is finding that club you want to stay at.
From the first moment you accept to join a club, the best thing you can do and the most respectful thing to do is ask yourself: 'What is the history behind this club?'
Diego Costa always gives us physical and moral strength. He is a very important player for the character he transmits to the team, and his potential as a football player.
Maradona and Messi played in different times and in different positions. Messi is much more a striker, Diego was all over the entire pitch. They are two extraordinary players.
Every footballer has their own identity. A Uruguayan player is different to a Spanish player. A Portuguese player may be similar to a Spanish one, but not the same - and so on.
Those who manage to keep the offensive and defensive balance are more successful. We search for balance in order to keep a stable level, which is the most difficult thing to do.
I relate football with boxing, with a street fight. In both cases there is always one moment, a second, in which someone shows fear in their eyes, in their body. In football it's exactly the same.
Ajax have a set model, a defined youth programme - Barcelona have one too, and Juventus. And Atletico Madrid do too. Real Madrid don't - because they alternate developing their own players with signing talent.
Finding myself in a final with Atletico makes me happy. Why? Because I know the feelings of all the people at the club - because I know how the players feel. They need to see their team as champions, so we have more fans every day.
The game's my life and I'm so passionate about it. When you see your life so intertwined with football it can make things very difficult. You might go and watch a film and start imagining footballers running across the screen, you know?
Of course, becoming champions is something we all want, but I think that the best 'championship' for a manager is to see players like Koke, Lucas Hernandez, Angel Correa - lads who have come up from all the way down in the lower divisions - become professionals of a high standard.
As a coach you need to choose the characteristics your players can contribute. I don't think it's a good thing for a coach to analyse his team by looking for something he sees in other teams. He has to pay close attention to the characteristics his team have, and make the most of those.
Football is like hunting. One second can change it all, but it's not just any second, it's a flash. The prey is there and suddenly then it's not. In an instant it's over - you won't have the chance again. You need to know which one precise second to train for, and to understand that moment.
I was 27 or 28 years old when I really decided I would become a manager. I would go home from training at Lazio, grab a folder and pretend I was taking a training session. You know the way kids imagine things, when they are playing? I would do the same as an adult, playing at being a manager.