Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Playing for my country is the pinnacle of anyone's career. There's a major tournament coming up so I'm looking forward to being a part of that.
I'd like to think I'm an approachable fella, and if someone wants me to pose for a picture, I'll always say 'yes' even when I'm with my family.
I last played in Dubai in the summer of 2009 and it was still over 40 degrees in the evening. It was extremely exhausting and absolute madness.
If you pray for things, I am proof that they can happen. I want to repay the manager's faith in bringing me back. (on re-signing for Liverpool)
When I was 7, I started playing with a club. The only grass on the field was in the corner. There was no grass in the middle! It was just sand.
The best team I played in was the Brazilian one in 2002; we felt that we could always score. It was a team without any vanity - or individuals.
With a national team, you've just got to be even more focused on what's most important because the time you've got with the players is limited.
I was always determined to make it as a footballer, but if things hadn't worked out, I'd have maybe followed my dad into the building industry.
Everybody has down times and stuff that they have to work through. I worked through that stuff because I've always wanted to be playing soccer.
I don't get a lot of time with my children. My time is precious, and time with my two kids is like gold dust to me. I can't get that time back.
Sometimes if you have a coach or team-mates for too long, you get caught in certain routines. I think it's good to shake up things a little bit.
When I was playing football, I always felt in complete control. When I play golf and come under pressure, it's a completely different ball game.
Munich is a great city. I have lived in many cities in Europe, but I have never felt this comfortable, and my wife and children love it as well.
I felt within myself that I needed to change what I was doing. I needed a new stimuli. So the interest from Manchester United was a perfect fit.
It was frustrating when the managers would change; you'd go to the bench and try to work your way back into the team. But it makes you stronger.
I didn't want to go there [America] at 34 years old and for people to say he's only going for the money. It's not what I'm going out there to do
What I've learned in life is that you can't always win, especially in sport, but you can be a true champion for everything you did to get there.
We are professionals. We know when we're playing badly, so if you have a poor game, you work in training to put things right so form comes back.
Football is not a sport populated by honest people. You can't tell the truth or be up front with people. It's a business, and no one is friends.
Soccer is a game for 22 people that run around, play the ball, and one referee who makes a slew of mistakes, and in the end Germany always wins.
Are people like Tom Cruise in touch with their public? I doubt it. Footballers are more like the rock stars of yester-year: they are box office.
Ultimately, if we can develop enough players, the balance of foreign players isn't great, but that's because we're not producing enough players.
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 always believe that it's beautiful to win important matches, but it's also very important simply to reach those moments. I truly believe that.
Put in the superlatives yourselves, I'm running out. Money doesn't thrill me or make me play better because there are benefits to being wealthy.
With respect to the world of football, I earn a normal wage. But compared to 99.9% of Spain and the rest of the world, I earn an obscene amount.
Imagine the day when girls everywhere won't have to fight for the right to be recognized for their great work or their contributions to society.
The World Cup was a huge frustration because I had prepared really hard for it. But in the World Cup there is no formula, no recipe for success.
Every championship that Brazil participates, we have the responsibility to win - every time. So when we don't win, it's considered as a failure.
Even though I am playing against others, and it is important to get there and win, I believe that Jesus is much more important than all of that.
Every player feels differently about playing football. We are all different people. I am the type who wants to win all the time. I hate to lose.
I will not accept racism at all. It's unacceptable. If someone throws a banana at me in the street, I will go to jail, because I will kill them.
I would have no problem with living in China. I like discovering new places and cultures, and I would not go alone - my family would go with me.
I've worked too hard and too long to let anything stand in the way of my goals. I will not let my teammates down and I will not let myself down.
A player can't request on what position he wants to play, and it is the same with the captaincy. One should respect this, there are hierarchies.
Lionel Messi is an excellent teammate, he's a fantastic guy. We lived through a lot together, a lot of games, a lot of goals - he knows me well.
If I pass away one day, I am happy because I tried to do my best. My sport allowed me to do so much because it's the biggest sport in the world.
You should never get ahead of yourself car-wise; no Merc when you're still in the youth team, no Porsche unless you're a Premier League regular.
I have really got into watching the unsigned bands. They play mad venues like the Sugarmill in Stoke and all sorts of underground, grimy places.
As a full back, your role is just as much in playing in midfield, getting forward and creating chances, as it is stopping them at the other end.
I used the bus when I was growing up in Brazil. I don't want to diminish anyone who travels on the bus, but I haven't done that for a long time.
Old Trafford is not really intimidating, no. I think the Man United fans are always behind the team and it's a fantastic place to play football.
It was lovely to receive the affection from some of the supporters of our biggest rival, ... It doesn't happen to you very often in your career.
A man is not scared of playing, of having any contact, and you won't shut him down if you kick him - he will just ask for the ball all the time.
My relationship with Laporta? I always had a direct relationship with him, in that if I said something, we would be able to discuss it like men.
Once one is beyond a certain level of commitment to the sport, life begins to seem an allegory of rowing rather than rowing an allegory of life.
Without big money you can't stay at the top. Maybe you can reach it for one year but you can't if you don't have money to buy important players.
To be honest, proper recognition has only come from the fans. I don't want to be hard, and I don't want to be negative, but I want to be honest.
I've got to think he's the only guy who smiled when he walked up to the podium. I love that about it and he brings that personality on the field.
When I'm training, and I'm in games, and challenges or things aren't going my way, I literally am so happy to go home to the family I'm creating.