Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I thought I had joined one of the best clubs in the world, one of the biggest names around, and I had, though within a few years, it became clear that I had arrived at one of the worst moments in Liverpool's whole history.
When I was 11, I was invited to be a ballboy at Stamford Bridge when Chelsea played Liverpool. I was a Liverpool fan, so I was gutted that they lost 2-0. Afterwards, I was introduced to the players - I found it terrifying.
I think I am difficult to satisfy, because when I win something, I'm already thinking about the next step, and that is maybe a problem for me. I'm not enjoying the moment. I'm already on the mission to win the next trophy.
China is a sleeping giant if you just take a look at their experience regarding all kinds of sport, not football though, and the number of people that love sports. Chinese are eager to hit new shores and they are ambitious.
I'm not a big fan of revolutions. People nearly always call for them when a team that's triumphed a great deal goes a year without winning anything. For me, however, the experience gained in previous victories is important.
That's my hunger. If I start to relax, and I lose that, then I had better stop my football. I need that hunger. I still feel I need to do things 10 times better than other players. Just to be accepted and to improve myself.
I started to realise I am not as strong as others, and I can't muscle someone off the ball who is twice the size of me. So I have altered my game, playing on the half-turn, for example, and it's made me a much better player.
Winning domestic tournaments like leagues, cups, and super cups adds to your standing in your country, but once you take a step forward in Europe and lift that European Cup, I think that prestige extends to the global stage.
Real Madrid is such an extraordinary club in terms of size and the constant politics that, perhaps, the best results are achieved by those with an ability to remove themselves from the spotlight to concentrate on their work.
I am not dealing with footballers, I am dealing with people. They have fears and worry about failing and making fools of themselves in front of 80,000 people. I have to make them see that without each other they are nothing.
The money is in a different league these days, of course, but I have special memories of the 60s and 70s which players today don't have. There wasn't the same celebrity attitude and media exposure. We had a bit more freedom.
In that match for Holland I asked for a big responsibility, I got it and I dealt with it. I played well, I scored goals and the team qualified for the Euro 2004 finals. It was a big night and an important moment for Holland.
I decide my future. I decide what I want to do. Nobody else. If I decide this will be my last year, maybe it is. If I decide it will be my last contract, I decide that. Nobody else. So I will decide when the moment is there.
When I think of Xabi, my mind goes back to the first training session he had at Melwood in August 2004. And the same word always leaps out: wow! Rafa Benitez had talked him up before he arrived and immediately you understood.
On some occasions, it is every footballer's dream to play for the national team, but if you don't reach it, you always need to work harder to reach a higher level, a level you wouldn't reach if you didn't have this as a goal.
There are a lot of teams that don't want to play, that only want to defend against Barcelona, and that makes it difficult. We're always looking for the open space. A lot of times we'll face six defenders and four midfielders.
I was watching the Blackburn game on TV on Sunday when it flashed on the screen that George (Ndah) had scored in the first minute at Birmingham. My first reaction was to ring him up. Then I remembered he was out there playing.
Ask most people, and they will say their name or profession, but you have to know who you are both physically and mentally. It's really important in football because then you know your trigger points, how to adapt and improve.
That is life: you have to deal with things, and it's up to you how you deal with things. That's what makes you mature or not. If you can get the best out of yourself, that's all that matters. If you do that, nobody is arguing.
When, in 2005, there was an offer from Juventus, I was in the Bahamas. When I came back, Arsene said to me, 'There is an offer from Juve. What do you want to do?' I understood that he was saying, 'If you want to leave, leave.'
My view is that you show Messi one side or the other, and if he goes past you, he goes past you. But if he slips it through your legs, then you have to obstruct him and take the foul. Just don't ever let yourself be nutmegged.
People usually think that it is the coach who has to raise the spirits of his players; that it is the coach who has to convince his footballers; that it is his job to take the lead all the time. But that's not always the case.
When our positioning and ball game and passing is not that good, then my game is struggling as well. I can score from set pieces and so on, but I have to be involved in the combinations, make my runs without the ball, go deep.
I had the brain for football, but I didn't have the height. So I started using my brain to overcome those weaknesses and discovered football isn't just about size or power: it's about what's up there. That was the making of me.
If you win games, you think things are comfortable, and they are not. The best players don't think that way, and that's why they get to where they are: they don't worry about what has gone on and think only about the next game.
We talk about the Arsenal 'Invincibles' of 2004 and the team who won the Double two years earlier and drool over their attacking play. It is easy to forget, though, that virtually the same squad had won nothing for three years.
I've been in the position where Liverpool needed to win on the last day to reach the Champions League. In May 2000, we needed to beat Bradford, who were fighting to avoid relegation, at Valley Parade but lost an awful game 1-0.
My feelings towards Manchester City will never change; I'm eternally grateful to them as a football club. They took me as a 19-year-old boy from Shrewsbury Town, took somewhat of a punt on me, and I've had some fantastic times.
Football is a team sport. I'm proud of what I achieved in my career, but I also know that I wouldn't have achieved any of it without the support of my team-mates. I played with great players, great managers, and in great teams.
Referees need help. Players are getting faster and fitter and too many referees are making decisions from behind the play. They see a tangle of legs, they are asked to make a decision with one, often obscured look at high speed.
I went to Fulham for the project they explained to me - but it didn't really work out. I might have been playing at a high level for the national team, but I was starting to miss those European nights and challenging for titles.
The England manager didn't think I was good enough, and as a professional, you have to take it. Sure, it was disappointing, but all you can do is carry on playing well for your club and hope it changes. Unfortunately, it didn't.
None of the proposed inter-city solutions would have offered more frequent or more affordable service than existing options like bussing. Busses can also be easily re-routed around gas leaks, car accidents, or traffic congestion.
But I still think it's part of the skill of being a coach or manager - to know who responds to what. And some players do respond to a rollicking. If it needs to be done, you have to do it. As a player, that wasn't necessarily me.
You train far more in France than in England. Here, we still see football as a game. Football is a job. There is still the mentality where training is at 11, you come in at 10:30, and when it is finished, you leave straight away.
Messi is as famous as any footballer has ever been, and yet, when it comes down to it, we don't know much about him. I read that he is a family man and likes to walk his dogs, but beyond that, he's a mystery, really. I like that.
That is probably the biggest issue about the English game. You need to be a great player and great at striking the ball, of course, but it's also about your head and being able to understand the game, especially for a midfielder.
I love F1, the cars and the speed. I love the race in Monaco for example, because there's such a special atmosphere on the streets and also, the race is very technical. I'm a big racing fan in general, so I'd love to try the cars.
On my mum Marie's side, my nana was from the Republic of Ireland, and my granddad was from the north. Lots of families in Manchester have strong Irish connections, but it never occurred to me to play for anyone other than England.
What I liked of Mourinho is his work ethic and the way he organizes his team against the opponent. He knows the strength and weakness of the opponent, and he will give the details for what he wants. And for me, that was impressive.
As a professional, you're taught from a young age to despise losing. But I began to accept that, in football, you will win some games, and you will lose some games, with draws here and there, too. That's just the nature of the game.
My favourite game has to be winning the Champions League against Chelsea in 2008, because nothing can top that. My favourite goal was at Wigan in 2009, which came late in the game and pretty much clinched the title for us that year.
I was fortunate to play with so many wonderful footballers and under the greatest manager of all time, but I do believe that a club's ethos, the principles of how it plays, should outlive even the biggest individuals in its history.
The fundamentals, what I want, which is to take the ball, try to play as offensive as possible and dominate the game through the ball, is the same. I grew up with that; I was a player with that idea, and I am a coach with that idea.
With Marco Silva, the way he coaches players, he has that knowledge: he wants the best out of you, basically. He wants something out of you all the time, and having seen him work in a short space of time, it's only going to improve.
I had to go to see the careers woman at school, and when she asked me what I wanted to do after school, I told her flat: 'I want to be a professional footballer.' I can remember her being silent for a few seconds, just looking at me.
I was told I could play at the top long before I realised I could. A few people told me that. I've always had a 'name,' and I don't know how I got it, but I was blessed with people in the right situations saying good things about me.
I've always found that you can enjoy your life a lot more if you can get on with people. If I don't get on with someone, I don't necessarily go out of my way to be best friends, but you learn as you grow up how to get on with people.
No, I love it at Chelsea. I've been here since I was 14, and I'm 28 now. All my friends are here, so I'm going to stay for ever unless Chelsea tell me I've got to go, which maybe one day they will, but for now I'm definitely staying.
Paolo Maldini is someone I loved at AC Milan and looked up to as a player. I think he had so much about him. He had so much quality and he was a player I looked to growing up. Him and Tony Adams - another footballer who's won it all.