Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
When you're in the semi-finals of the Champions League, you need to be really good and need a little bit of luck.
I think the Catalonian people really identify with Barcelona - the fans are really proud of the team and the club.
I arrived when I was a kid; I was just 17. I would have liked to have played more, but I learned a lot in Manchester.
I have not betrayed Barca, and I'm surprised anyone would doubt my commitment to Barcelona, because I've been a fan since birth.
When you're playing for a great team like Madrid, with a lot of pressure because you have to win every game, it's a difficult life.
I'll retire at Barca. I don't know when - the older I am, the better. I'm sure about that; I can't see myself wearing any other shirt.
You try to do the best for your club, and you also create relationships and friendships - with Neymar, my relationship is really strong.
Shakira has a very great career, knows a lot, and has taught me a lot. She came into my life to transform it, and that makes me very happy.
With Messi, we're talking about the best player in the world. It doesn't matter if he's a little bit injured: he can still change everything.
In order to eliminate injustices and to ensure there would be less controversy, I would introduce technology that would make refereeing better.
Being called up to the national team is about going with them, playing the best you possibly can, and trying to win. That's how I understand it.
I've never seen a Barca without control of the game. I've never seen a Barca that doesn't have the ball and lets the opposition attack all the time.
It's a responsibility when you have won as much as I have done, as much as the teams I have played for have done: then the fans are waiting for more.
As a teammate, Cristiano Ronaldo is a perfect '10.' I admire him professionally because he sets an example to follow both as a player and as a person.
Everybody knows that footballers have text groups on WhatsApp. I have one just for my friends from home, and I have another just for my Barca team-mates.
Messi often has a crowd of opponents around him, but with Neymar on the pitch, too, at least two of those opposition players will have to be aware of him.
I studied economics with some teachers from ESADE. It's a really good school here in Spain. They helped me to understand a little about numbers, stats, economics, etc.
There won't be more Messis, and we don't expect there to be more, as there won't be another generation in La Masia like the one with Xavi, Busi, Puyol, Iniesta and me.
I think, for Catalonia, FC Barcelona means a lot because it is one of the top clubs in the world, and that means that it's a way to show what Catalonia is in the world.
There comes a point when you realise that you're storming forward, that you can beat anyone, and this is what has ended up winning us the league and putting us in two finals.
I am very proud of my three years there, of having decided to go to Manchester first - at 17, it was the perfect time for me to leave home because it helped make me as a person.
Completely, in the end, being at a club like FC Barcelona who must win titles, you have to stay motivated, and often times, using your head is more important than using your body.
Not everything, always, is about your performance. It's about the team performance. When the team is not playing well, then normally, you will not play well. It's all about the team.
I was 17 years old and missed many things about Barcelona, particularly the food. Fortunately, Sir Alex Ferguson realised my situation and helped me to grow. For me, the gaffer was like a second father.
My routine prior to a big game is the same for any other match. Eat, sleep, chat with teammates during the day, and then, as the match draws near, I listen to my music on the trip to the stadium and zone in.
Politics is always a difficult thing to talk about because, like football, the views are radical. You think this way; that guy thinks the opposite way. It is, like, nearly a fight, and feelings are very strong.
I think when people say Madrid are playing well and Barca are not and vice-versa, or when one wins the Champions League, it's better than the other, I don't think that makes sense. Everyone takes their own path.
The only problem is that there are a lot of people here in Catalonia who want to separate from Spain and a lot of people who don't want to. We are talking about 50-50, more or less, and that is why it is difficult.
In England, there are big games but nothing like the Clasico. Manchester United versus Liverpool is a really great match, probably the best over there. But Barcelona-Madrid is different to any other game in the world.
Luis Enrique has a clear idea, and the team has understood it perfectly. He asks us to press high up the pitch, to counter quickly when the opposition attacks and try to maximise the space between the lines with the speed we have.
I moved to Manchester United when I was a 17-year-old kid. Nemanja Vidic was five years older than me and Rio Ferdinand nearly nine years, and at the time, they were the best central defenders in the world. They never had a bad game.
If you stop now and start to realise what you have achieved, then you start to relax, and you start to lose. I don't think about everything I have achieved. I will do it when I retire because then I will have a lot of days to remember.
With VAR, the refereeing errors will be reduced, and therefore, we'll all be on equal terms. It will take a lot of the responsibility from the referees on vital decisions, like penalties and goals, and they will make far fewer mistakes.
I always said that Messi has some talent that no one has. I mean, he has the ball and his speed controlling the ball. The ball doesn't go two metres far from his foot; it's always there. It's impossible to catch him. This talent I didn't see from anyone.
It changes everything, absolutely everything. The love you feel for your child transforms everything. Now you have someone helpless and tiny that depends on you and only you. You look at him and know that your world is focused on him, on that part of you.
It's true that sometimes we have paparazzi or some kind of photographers following us, but you have to live normal. I mean, if you try to not go to the supermarket or not go to the cinema, you won't live properly, and you won't enjoy living. We are trying to be as normal as we can.
I think that every day, more and more people are conscious of what Barca is, that Barca is a global brand, and you can go anywhere in the world and see a child wearing a Barca shirt, and that means a lot: not just that people like Barca but that they also like the colours and even buy the shirt.
When I can talk about my teammates who help make me a better player, or even the coach who gave me the self-confidence to continue being who I am, these are fundamental people who have had an influence throughout my life and my professional career, and I'm very thankful to them, and they know it.
You try to do the best for your club, and you also create relationships and friendships - with Neymar, my relationship is really strong, even though it really hurt the club when he left. As a friend, I could understand his decision and why he wanted to go to Paris. I tried to be fair to him no matter what.
I learned so much during my time at United. Sharing a dressing room with Paul Scholes, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Ruud van Nistelrooy, and Ryan Giggs at such a young age was an amazing experience. I didn't play as much as I would have liked, but it was a master's degree in development both as a player and a person.
Business is another kind of world that I don't think is as passionate. It is not the pressure to perform as you have in football. It is more about strategy, skill, about how you deal with all the information you have. Some of the things from football I can bring to business, and some things from business I can bring to football.
I always try to say what I'm thinking, what I'm feeling, and without fear of what others will say or think, and that's how I've always lived. Sometimes, this has ended up hurting me, and other times, it has helped me, but I think you can never forget who you are, and I've always been myself, and that one of the things I'm most proud of.