Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Playing with France is the challenge of playing with one of the national teams with the greatest football histories.
To play for Madrid for 10 years and also being the number nine you have to be very good and have a huge mental strength.
Just imagine, I was doing exams and signing autographs for other students. It was surreal. I'm really proud that I passed.
People have wanted me to change and it annoys me. Do we ask Ramos to be someone else? We take him as he is; take me as I am.
Interest from Bayern or Man Utd? It is greatly flattering to hear those names, and I even ask myself if that is really about me.
I consider myself to be from Madrid because I arrived very young, but I do not forget my years in Lens - of which I am also proud.
First, you arrive at training, prepare for the session, I get treatment from the physios and go straight to the gym to activate the body.
All the teams that win a big trophy, it is thanks to the collective, when each one takes pleasure to share with the others. This is how it works.
I have memories of watching the Champions League as a kid in France. We all supported different teams and they were intense moments. Great memories.
Being able to get some games under my belt and feeling the confidence of the gaffer is something very important to me. That way I feel good on the pitch.
I was inspired by players like Pepe or Sergio Ramos because they are defenders and by someone like Cristiano Ronaldo, who is an example for any footballer.
Kylian keeps learning and going forward, which he does very quickly. It's good that he is ambitious. He is self-confident, it's good. He always wants more.
I think I felt ready and I really wanted to go to Real Madrid. Some are ready and others aren't. I thought about it carefully and I made the right decision.
It was the craziest period of my life: I was getting ready for the baccalaureate, the phone was ringing off the hook, I visited the Real facilities, I met Alex Ferguson.
Don't call me an intellectual. After all, there are a lot more people taking their A-levels each summer than signing for Real Madrid. I was just a good and serious student.
It would be wonderful to spend my whole career at Madrid. But my early days taught me to enjoy every moment because everything can change very quickly - I saw that with Euro 2016.
What's for sure is that the profile of the central defender is evolving. At one time it was all about the stopper and the libero. Today, central defenders have to be more complete.
It's the desire to keep winning. Each season the counters are reset to zero. You've either got a title to defend or one to go and win. We want to keep making our honours list longer.
One player who gives me a lot of advice at Real is Pepe. He's taught me never to give up. He always gives 100 per cent on the pitch and he tries to instil that winning mentality in me.
I watch a lot of players in my position, but if I had to name a role model, I'd say Lillian Thuram because of the way he carried himself on the pitch and everything he did in his career.
Zidane has tried to get me to improve. Anticipating, reading the play, putting myself in the defensive balance, I know how to do all this. So he expects the same finesse in an attacking sense.
Basically, I played football to share with others, to excel together, to achieve a goal. After, we all have our ego, our pride and our personality. But all alone, in football, it does not work.
I'm quite shy and quite reserved. But when things start heating up, I don't hesitate to show my character, whether that's in good moments, like when we won the World Cup, or more difficult moments.
Everybody knows that there are quality players at centre back for Madrid and for me that's the day-to-day challenge. That's why it's important to be ready to take advantage of every chance that comes up.
Zidane's success comes from transmitting calm and never changing that no matter what is happening. That serenity and tranquility conveys confidence and security. He talks little but when he does, it matters.
I am super nice, I am great, even in the dressing room. I am also quite shy. But when there are difficult times or when you have to show your character, you can count on me. The players who have known me for a while know this.
It's hard to criticise Ronaldo. When we come back from an away game at 4 A.M., he is one of the players that goes straight to the training complex to jump in cold water to accelerate the speed of his recovery. He is an example to follow.
Ronaldo is a bon vivant, he is friendly, he always has something to help you progress. He wants to be the best around. It infuriates him when he loses, he cannot stand it. It's true that sometimes, in the dressing room, it's fun to lose just to make him mad!
Depending on the day's training intensity, we stretch, work on mobility, everything to prepare myself well. Later, we train, and depending on the day we do more physical work, more technical or more tactical. The duration also varies between 45 minutes and an hour and a half.
During my second year at Madrid, Jose Mourinho gave me a kick up the backside. I wasn't doing well, I wasn't managing to do what he wanted me to out on the pitch. So he chided me, saying: 'Why don't you run in training?' My first reaction was to mutter, 'Oh come on... ' But I knew he was right, I had more to give.