Football, if I can say, is an everlasting new beginning. You always question yourself, but you have to be ready not just mentally but physically as well. You have to be fit and take care of your body.

Great players must always produce and at any time or in any game. Give them a ball and a pitch, and they will show what they've got. That relaxed, calm spirit you don't really have when you are young.

Mourinho was good; a very good family man. If people had children and there were days we had to come in he would let you bring kids in and mess about with them while the training session was going on.

I've learnt that it is important not to go over the top with aggression, because then either you are going to miss a lot of games, or you are not going to be concentrating on the game you are playing.

Some referees have to think about treating every player the same, even if it's Ronaldinho or another player from a Premiership club. It doesn't matter how good you are: you have to be treated the same.

To be honest, I don't think I've played bad for England, I've certainly not been as bad as some people say. That criticism has been hard to take. I don't think I've let the country down too many times.

I've seen first-hand the great enthusiasm Portland has for soccer; it's a soccer-smart fan base that generates an incredible atmosphere. I am very much looking forward to the first season of Thorns FC.

Every time you win a cup, it's special, but it's a dream come true when it happens at a club where you started in the youth set-up, surrounded by friends who formed an incredible generation of players.

Sure we have skilled players, but the biggest thing might just be that we are so well conditioned and how we can play for 90 minutes at a high tempo which is needed in soccer at an international level.

I've always had an inquisitive mind about everything from flowers to television sets to motor cars. Always pulled them apart - couldn't put 'em back, but always extremely interested in how things work.

That's my mentality. Just because somebody has fouled me, there is no reason for me to be nasty to him. I try to respect football as much as possible, and when someone is injured, you put the ball out.

Henry is a great man, I really like him. He is a great professional and I think he will be a great captain for them. He's been the outstanding player in the Premiership for the last three or four years

I've been in the public eye so long, I can't remember how it was when it was different - from my mid-20s onwards, when my career started to blossom and I became an international, world cups and things.

As football gets more globalized, it's probably more important than ever to have one or two players in your team who have grown up in the same streets or been to the same schools as the hard-core fans.

Something interesting has happened over the last 10 years in the Premier League. Players who once would have been discarded as expensive and too old have become important parts of title-winning squads.

As football gets more globalised, it's probably more important than ever to have one or two players in your team who have grown up in the same streets or been to the same schools as the hard-core fans.

Cristiano Ronaldo's was the most exciting debut I've ever seen. There have been a few players described as 'The New George Best' over the years, but this is the first time it's been a compliment to me.

Gary Speed was honourable, trustworthy and a joy to manage. He was honest, he was a role model and he was a great bloke. An avid learner, he recognised responsibility and he was always fully committed.

After you've won something, you're no longer 100 percent, but 90 percent. It's like a bottle of carbonated water where the cap is removed for a short while. Afterwards there's a little less gas inside.

I'm definitely not a karaoke man, but I like to try stuff, so I'd get up on stage and give it a go. It would have to be something cheesy - karaoke always is - so maybe R. Kelly, 'The World's Greatest.'

When I look into the future and where I'd like to live, I'll say Germany because I grew up there and like the discipline the people have. But my background is from Zonguldak in Turkey. I'm there a lot.

I was proper, proper fast at one point, and obviously I'm not now, so I've lost certain things, but when I was that fast I didn't need to do certain other things in a game. It was such a potent weapon.

Consequently, I won just about everything I set out to win, everything bar the World Cup, of course. But even now, I don't regret that, because I was part of a team which twice reached the semi-finals.

The first pair of boots I remember owning were Puma Spiders - I still have them in a cupboard at home! They were fantastic boots. I was nine-years-old and I scored about 70 goals with them in a season.

In Holland we have always viewed Villa as an important club with a tradition of being powerful in Europe when I was younger, so I would be very interested in managing them if the job was offered to me.

Jurgen loved London because he could get lost here. He said that it was the first time he could do that in eight years. No one knew him or bothered him. It is great for a person to be able to get lost.

I think there's a lot of things that need fixing at Manchester United apart from David Moyes, but in this business, you also realize the head coach is always going to be the first to go, unfortunately.

All of us at Juventus agreed Manchester United were the best side we met in the Champions League. They have so many talented young players and can only get better and better. Giggs is truly world class

Roy Keane and Paul Scholes were unbelievable players. You cannot compare yourself to them. It is impossible. Scholes especially, I like him a lot, and I have a lot of respect for what he did for United.

And then ultimately what I tell the kids is: coaches can give you information, they can give you guidelines, and they can put you in a position. But the only person who can truly make you better is you.

It's where you're from - it's your roots - and that's why I like to get back to Nacogdoches in the offseason and hang out with my family. To me, it keeps me grounded and reminds me of how far I've come.

The high point of my career was winning the Champions League. No one will ever erase that from my memory, in the same way that no one will ever erase the fact that I did it in a Manchester United shirt.

If you have a negative model, you do negative things. If you have a positive model, like Guardiola, who says positive things and tells you to compete on the pitch and to play football, it's much better.

My new tattoo is Jesus being carried by three cherubs. Obviously the cherubs are my boys. At some point they are going to need to look after me. That's what they're doing in the picture. It means a lot.

As for the (Ballon d'Or) criteria, I'm not really sure how it works. Sometimes it's a World Cup year, sometimes it isn't. Let them vote. For me, there is no doubt as to who is the best, year after year.

I'd played some very good games, at Manchester United, at Tottenham Hotspur, but they'd lacked a goal. There've been times when I could have scored myself, but I've played a pass to a team-mate instead.

I loved reading Roald Dahl when I was young but I had forgotten a lot about the books. I read the 'BFG' on the iPad the other day and it was so interesting to see his descriptions of clothes and places.

I still mess around and joke with my family and friends like I did when I was nine or 10. For me, nothing's changed. Sure, I play football, but I try to keep my life off the pitch as simple as possible.

In the time I spent with him, Jurgen Klopp was enigmatic, larger than life, and extremely quick-witted. He is quite unique as a football manager in many ways, and that is what makes him so entertaining.

There isn't a single player I would pay to watch. You can say Thierry Henry, he's a fabulous striker, with pace and power, but a great entertainer needs to have charisma, too. Does he have charisma? No.

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.

Before I came to Barcelona, I only thought about one facet of the game: destroying. My qualities were completely defensive, and I wouldn't take responsibility for organising my team's game, our attacks.

You have to eat right. I eat a lot of vegetables. Keep a very, very healthy diet. It translates to how your body feels. The better your body feels, the better endurance and stamina you're going to have.

James [Wilson] has a great future ahead of him. Everyone can see he has a great left foot, it's incredible the way he can finish. His touch is good and he is quick as well; he has everything to succeed.

You can stick with one manager and have no wins, no trophies, or you can have so many different managers and win a lot. It comes down to the players, to the desire, and the way the club likes to behave.

There's a stigma on the word 'therapy.' People relate it to big problems. That's something we have to change. Going to therapy can be very healthy. It can change the way you see things and treat others.

I have good memories of Real Madrid. Professionally, it was a difficult period, but my experience there was very good in all senses, as I grew a lot, learned many things, and lived with great champions.

I've travelled the world with football, but probably in a privileged way. We've travelled, and travelling means going from an airport to the pitch to the hotel. I haven't really seen or explored things.

When I was playing for Chelsea and Arsenal, we had a young team but also experienced players. You still have space for the youngsters to play, they just have to be strong mentally to compete every week.

When football stars disappear, so do the teams, and that is a very curious phenomenon. It is like in the theatre, in a play, where there is a great star. If the star is not well, the whole cast suffers.

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