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Footballing qualities can be developed, but Stoichkov is a player with character and inborn talent. I've seen him produce fantastic plays even from impossible situations... I couldn't believe it, when I heard that I used to be his idol.
When my two boys were growing up and asking me about what I did and what kind of player I was I showed them all the matches from the European Championships in 1988 when we beat Germany in the semi-final and won the final against Russia.
I didn't become a footballer to be famous, I became a footballer to be successful. I didn't want to be famous. Now people want to be famous. Why? Why would you want people following you about all day? I couldn't think of anything worse.
Loyalty doesn't seem to be in the game that much these days where players leave their clubs which made them the stars they are today either to seek personal glory or fill their pockets. But one man serves as the epitome of club loyalty.
To be a footballer was just a dream, and I don't believe in dreams. I only deal in what is real. To be honest, I've never thought about what I could get out of football or where it would take me. I just wanted to play. I'm the same now.
I'm not saying I didn't have ample time to recover, ample time to get to my best, I felt this year I did fine. When I stepped on the field for the national team, I was ready and able to make an impact, to score goals, to create chances.
Editors, for the most part, don't care ''what'' you've done, or how astounding the physical event may have been. You need to write well. Many others are capable of doing what you have done (probably), so you must write better than they.
No one knows anything about economics. It's the great lie of the economists. By contrast in football people might have contrasting opinions, each of which has some validity. But the economists always speak in conditionals - what a mess.
I didn't like playing with dolls; I didn't like getting dressed up. A lot of my friends and people I went to school with were into fashion and their clothes, so I lacked a bit of self-belief and confidence... I wasn't really comfortable.
I am excited to bring my deep knowledge, passion and expertise of soccer in this country to The New York Cosmos. They truly represent where this sport is headed on a national and international level, and I want to make history with them.
You just can't believe how quickly things happen in football and the way life turns. I went from being the bad guy, the worst player who gets all the criticism, to being the player who makes the difference and scores the important goals.
I love playing football. So I go out to play football, and I don't really feel pressure. Of course, there are some days when things just don't work out as well as they do on other days, but that doesn't have anything to do with pressure.
I am a fascist, not a racist. I give the straight arm salute because it is a salute from a 'camerata' to 'camerati'. The salute is aimed at my people. With the straight arm I don't want to incite violence and certainly not racial hatred.
I played with Romario. Sometimes you think he's sleeping, then in one split second he's scoring. It's a big quality. That means a lot of concentration for defenders. He's always fast, always on the line of sight. That's his best quality.
I think I like the artistry of the game. I still get a lot of pleasure watching the good-quality teams play, where the movements of the players are coordinated. It's almost ballet-like, although 'ballet-like' is a bit of an exaggeration.
I find football much more powerful than what grown-ups want it to be. It's a community to me; it's something very meaningful in the life of many, many people and especially the youth. And, therefore, I think it can bring social cohesion.
When I was playing football I never enjoyed it that much, I was never happy. If I scored two goals, I wanted a third, I always wanted more. Now it's all over I can look back with satisfaction, but I never felt that way when I was playing.
It is one of my pet hates when I see players who have agents who do everything for them. They don't know how to set up their own bank accounts, they don't know what they are spending their money on and they can't make their own decisions.
I grew up playing video games. And the cool thing about the EA Sports games is they took me through the whole motion-capture thing, where they put little sensors on my body so the video game really is me. It actually moves the way I move.
Honestly, I feel like we are a walking protest. The fact that we're women professional athletes says that in and of itself. We've been feeling the inequality; we've been struggling with pay equality or whatever it is, or sexism in sports.
With the national team, we have these fans, people love of us, people come up to us in our cities, and they're like, 'We love you - what are you doing in Seattle?' And I'm like, 'I live here, and I've played here for the last five years.'
We were under pressure at West Brom to get promoted and to stay up, even if, at a big club like Chelsea, the pressures are more highlighted by the public scrutiny you're under. It's part of our job, that pressure, and I cope with it well.
I would love to retire a City player and I have my fingers crossed it is something that can still happen. When I did leave in 2005, I broke down crying on the way to sign for Chelsea, but back then, we needed the money my sale brought in.
A mate owned a Bryan Robson top. We were kicking about, and I asked if I could be Robbo for a while. My dad looked out and went ballistic. He wasn’t having his kid dragging the Gerrard name through the gutter. I thought we’d have to move!
Probably I would have got more money if I'd stayed in Italy. It was said that I took England for the money. Absolutely not. I took it because it's the biggest football job in the world, the finest job you can have. I enjoyed it every day.
No, we discuss it as fans. When we see the game, we talk about what we thought was a call or a foul or no foul. We just have to deal with that in the game. There's gonna be plenty more of those. Referees are humans, so it's not a problem.
It is kinda strange when people know exactly where I've been because they saw it in the newspaper. But this is the culture we live in now, where people are interested in what you're doing on holiday, so we have to just basically accept it.
In my career, there's many things I've won and many things I've achieved, but for me, my greatest achievement is my children and my family. It's about being a good father, a good husband, just being connected to family as much as possible.
Take up giving-away as a hobby while you are young, and you will have a happy life. What is more, because you do so many thoughtful things on impulse, you will develop a lively and interesting personality- gracious, friendly, and likeable.
Arsene Wenger's idea is not only to play good football. It's to play good football to win. In my day, we knew that with our style we could hurt teams and win trophies too. But we did it our way, with the positional game, passing, movement.
So here, at Arsenal, we are often surprised when we are shown some of the newspapers, and at the bottom of an article there is a line saying if you know of anyone who had an affair with a player, call this number. It is very strange to us.
For me, it's easier to play with my right foot. It's simple. If I go right, I see Diego and have different solutions: I go alone or pass to Diego, or the midfield can join in. If I go the other way, the cross with my left foot is not good.
I've always been one of the youngest guys on the team. But now I'm one of the older guys, one of the more experienced guys, and I have to be more of a leader. The guys are looking up to me, asking me questions and looking at me to step up.
Being the Barca coach is different to being the coach at another club because you have to adapt to the philosophy of the club. At other clubs, maybe you have the freedom to adapt the team to your way of thinking. Here, that's not the case.
Not just Mexico. Columbus should be the home of any big game. There's absolutely no doubt about that.To be able to play in front of a decidedly pro-American crowd for both Mexico games, and to win them both 2-0, is fantastic for everybody.
We are the best team of the tournament and deserved the title but luck did not favour us. I think the future of this team is good. If we play more friendly matches and target the SAFF Championship, I think this team can deliver that title.
We don't have the money of the Manchester clubs or Chelsea. Arsenal builds its team through training, through recruiting players who can become something. Arsenal has less money than some other clubs, so we have to fight with other values.
I played for Santos at 16, and we had an excellent team, so it helped a lot. And then I played for Brazil at the Maracana against Argentina. So I get more experience. This was one year before the World Cup, and it made a lot of difference.
It strikes me that these days, clubs don't even want players who can truly play any more; they just want athletes, quick guys who don't have a football brain, can just run and run; some of them, Jesus. I can never imagine acting like that.
I'm often asked where my nickname 'Kun' comes from. My parents says it was a Japanese cartoon I used to watch on television when I was very young, set in the Stone Age, where the main character was a boy called Kum Kum, the little caveman.
I play in a position that demands hard work and generosity and little glamour, but I like it. It’s my job and I like it. I would rather intercept and steal 10 balls than shoot. That’s what I’m here for, to make everyone else’s jobs easier.
I don't want to say names, but there are certain companies I won't work with because of previous people they've worked with. I don't want to be put in the same category as another athlete that I don't necessarily think is a good role model.
The closing of our earthly eyes is such a simple event. The shedding of the physical body does not solve the fundamental problems of enlightenment, just as changing ones clothes has nothing to do with the deep questions of life and destiny.
I never think I want to go to another World Cup just to be in the record books again and play in six tournaments or four World Cups. If I am lucky enough to go, I want to go there to fight for my place and win something in an England shirt.
There are people who are out to take advantage of others and some who are merely putting in their time. But most of the people I encounter in the work place are desperately trying to make a difference and what to be effective at their jobs.
If I decide to leave Bayern Munich, it will be for a Spanish club. I have to think about what my family wants as well and my wife would be delighted to move to Spain. She doesn't like all the rain and snow and is reluctant to go to England.
I tried to talk to the ref but it is easier to get to see the Pope. If I'm in London again and I get mugged I hope the same number of people turn up to protect me. There were six police, four stewards and even a UN peace observer out there.
I don't say what I feel. I say what was said to me because my senior professionals were amazing to me. If I can do anything similar to the young pups, I will do that. My senior pros protected me and looked after me and made me feel amazing.
When people are booing at the stadium when they win, then it has nothing to do with the results. It is something to do with emotion and feelings, which is an important part of football. The relationship there has nothing to do with results.
The only uncertainty surrounding the decision is the wording of the accompanying statement and, in particular, whether the assessment that 'some further policy firming may be needed to keep the risks ... roughly in balance' will be dropped.