Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
We won back-to-back titles in 2005 and 2006, and it was a fantastic achievement, a fantastic feeling. Once you experience that, you want to have it again.
It is a great challenge to be playing against the best players in the world, and I always wanted to play in the Premier League and be a part of this league.
I play football, not to only enjoy it - and I love the challenge of playing and competing with the best players - but I want to have the chance to win games.
Obviously, you have the physicality and the way the game is played in the Premier League. The goalkeeper is not as protected as in Europe or different leagues.
For a big club, you can accept that the team does not win the league because it is in transition, but you cannot afford to slip out of the Champions League spot.
It's the life of the manager: when you make a decision, and the team doesn't win, the pressure comes. But that's part of the life of a manager and footballers as well.
As a goalkeeper, Van der Sar can do everything. He is very good at coming off his line, and he is also effective as a libero - what they call in England a 'sweeper keeper.'
In football, you only work for the things you can control. You cannot control the outside world: you can only control your preparation; you can only control your performances.
I want to be playing, I want to have a chance to compete for my position in the team, and I want to be useful for the team and do the usual stuff on the pitch week in, week out.
I believe that the Premier League is the best league in the world, and having played in the Premier League for such a long time, it is to my advantage, and I know what to expect.
When you are going for every trophy, it is always good to have as many points as early as possible in the Champions League, and then you can concentrate on the league and the Carling Cup.
Iker Casillas is one of those keepers who always seems to be at his best in the really difficult games when he has hardly got anything to do but reacts when needed in those emergency situations.
Wenger and Mourinho are different, but there is one thing they have in common, and that is that they do not like defeats. And I think this is the driving force behind the success of both of them.
In a way, the manager plays as big part, but you, as a player, are on the pitch. He cannot make you run if you don't want to; he cannot make you make the right decision in the heat of the moment.
Show me a team of the stature of Chelsea, Manchester United, Real Madrid, or Barcelona who is not obsessed with winning the Champions League. If they are not, I'd be surprised why they play in it.
Every summer is important. If you have a bad summer, it can have consequences for the whole season. If you don't get people to rest and to have a very good pre-season, you can start the season chasing.
If you take the autobiographies of great sports people, they are almost always the same. They start with zero; they are always ambitious, know what they want to do in life, and have the confidence to do it.
When you bring in a player with a big reputation for a big fee, and he's coming from a different championship, and it starts badly, then you can be worried - we had an example of that with Andriy Shevchenko.
You have to be consistent in your work, consistent in your performances, because, if not, then you might not have as many games as you would like. Less games you play, then less chances to have a clean sheet.
Now the ambulance is always ready; the paramedics are always ready. People in the crowd can get help without risk. If you look at the Fabrice Muamba case, this is what helped save his life - the paramedics are there.
My father has a book where, ever since I started playing games... he wrote down the games that I played in. And then, when I did my website, we thought that was a really good idea, that people can keep track of my games.
His ball technique is superb, but most importantly, he can react to how the game develops. At the last possible moment in any situation, he can find the ideal solution. There are a lot of ways that Messi can finish an attack.
The connection between the Soviet Union and Czech people - or Czech politicians - was very big. It was like a model country for us. But it wasn't the best model, so a lot of Czechs don't like to speak about Russia or the Soviet Union.
I speak five languages, which actually makes it easier when you join a new team. You can settle much quicker because you can help team-mates much faster and better. People need to be careful around me, though - I can understand everything.
I gave my first interview when I arrived at Chelsea in 2004, and I had said that it had been my dream to play for one of the best clubs in the world and in the best league in the world - this came true, and I am very pleased my dream will last.
I played tennis a lot when I had the skull injury. For the first two months of my preparation, it was all I could do. It is a great sport for me because it helps my hand-eye coordination, and you need quick feet, which is a good exercise for a keeper.
I understood I had to be good at school so I could play football in my free time. Usually, by the time I came home from school, I already had all my things ready for the next day, so I could put my bag on the side and go straight out to play football with my friends!
Once you're on the pitch, you play for your team, and you want to win. During the year, you can play against friends - you can play against big friends and close friends - but once you are on the pitch, this friendship goes away, and you just focus on winning the game.
My favourite language, actually, is Czech, just because it's so colourful. We have so many combinations, words, and expressions. I have to say there are a lot of things which you can say in Czech, but you cannot really translate, because the meaning would make no sense.
I'm amazed people talk about my helmet - saying it makes me feel psychologically better. I would love to play without it, but I'm not allowed to by the doctor. As long as I'm told by the doctor I'm running too much risk to play without it, I'll play with it. There's no other way for me.
I speak all my languages basically every day with the people in the dressing room, and it's a pleasure to be able to do so. On the pitch, if it's a group of players I'm trying to communicate with, then I use English because you need to make sure everyone understands what you are saying.
Buffon may be a bit smaller, but he has everything that you want from a great goalkeeper. He relays his confidence to his defence, and they feel that they have a great keeper behind them. Everybody can make mistakes, but his consistency level is amazing. You never see him have a bad game.
Buffon is fearless and has no obvious weaknesses. He has been outstanding for Juventus and was one of Italy's most important players at the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany, where they were victorious, but what is amazing is that he has been playing like that for years. He never seems to make a mistake.
People always use the word 'obsession' in a negative way, which I'm always amazed by. We are not obsessed in the way that, if we don't win it, we'll just go and shoot ourselves. That's not the case. We are obsessed with the Champions League because this is a great competition to win. In a positive way, we try to search for the victory.