Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
At the end of the day, I'm a footballer who has played at some of the biggest football clubs in the world and played with some of the best players in the world.
I've got no interest in football. My brother's a footballer, too, and I was dragged to the freezing pitch every week as a child. I don't see much glamour in it.
He was always brilliant, but when Pep Guardiola started to use him as a 'false' No. 9, he got even better. It's impossible to be more of a footballer than Messi.
Of course I want to keep playing; that's the best thing for any footballer. But I'm looking forward to not having to put my body through the pain, I have to say.
Having a stadium in France named after a footballer from the Ivory Coast, even if I'm proud of my France-Ivory Coast background, is a great proof of integration.
I never saw myself as a women's footballer. Not when I was in my tiny village in Norway. Not when I was suffering in Germany. Not when I finally made it to Lyon.
In my head, I was like any young kid: 'I'm going to be a footballer.' But at the same time, my mum and dad were making me do my schoolwork, and that was important.
When I was a footballer, I surrounded myself with footballers. We were all friends. But in Brasilia you don't know who your friends are. It can be a dangerous place.
If I'd had the choice when I was 14, and someone had said to me, 'You can either be a footballer or an actor,' I'd have said: 'Well, can't I be a footballing actor?'
I was probably 13 or 14 when I realised I had a chance to make it. That's when I realised that a bit of education had to be sacrificed in order to become a footballer.
When you are a footballer, you eat, sleep, and breathe football. If I have a bad training session, I can go home and do whatever I want, but you still feel an emptiness.
I feel I have been very lucky. When you are growing up, you have dreams of being a footballer, perhaps even playing for the club you support, and I am living that dream.
I am a lucky man because when I was young, I wanted to be a footballer. Suddenly, around 30 years old, I thought, 'I want to try to be a manager because it's different.'
Any footballer who understands space and time and positioning can become a better player because he knows how to receive the ball alone with time to play a pass or shoot.
I am different as soon as I am on the pitch, because I had to fight so much and work so hard to become a professional footballer, so I have to give everything that I can.
As a young Scottish footballer growing up - I always used to follow Scotland and watch the games - Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness, and Joe Jordan were players I looked up to.
Most of the youngsters I grew up playing with do not have a career in the game now. Sometimes people think it is easy to be a footballer, but it is hard work that never stops.
Every footballer has their own identity. A Uruguayan player is different to a Spanish player. A Portuguese player may be similar to a Spanish one, but not the same - and so on.
I was probably the first footballer ever to have a pop-star profile, and my agent was right when he said we could put my name on stair rods and sell them to people in bungalows.
I found it difficult when I first started to travel around the world as a footballer. Hotels go from places you are excited to stay in to places you get tired of pretty quickly.
Ryan Giggs will go down as the most successful British footballer of all time and I cannot see anyone ever overtaking him. He's on the brink of his 13th league title, after all.
I don't recognize myself in the players I see today. There's only one who excites me, and that is Thierry Henry. He's not just a great footballer, he's a showman, an entertainer.
I played semi-professionally for a season, and there's an element of performance to being a footballer, stepping onto the pitch: you feel like a gladiator walking into a colosseum.
As a footballer you're committed to play for the badge, train alongside fantastic players daily and compete against some of the game's best every weekend. What more can you ask for.
My father was a footballer. I used to play a lot as a kid, but not like a team or something, just with my family having fun. It makes your legs stronger and helps your co-ordination.
I had an opportunity to play for Paris St-Germain when I was younger and it's important for me to represent a club with that amount of history because of the type of footballer I am.
As a footballer, I have always found it better not to be too emotional. Better to be cool, consistent, clinical. Celebrate goals, yes, but keep your feelings for those you trust most.
I live in a bubble. Real life is the one my friends live. They've had to look for work, sign on to the dole, and emigrate. That's normal life now. My life as a footballer is not normal.
When I retired in 2006, I stayed for a further two years in England. I stayed because I wanted to be in England without being a footballer, without the rhythm. I wanted to enjoy the city.
For any footballer who plays for Real Madrid in the modern era, the prospect of leaving the club must feel like a step down no matter where they go - but it does not have to be like that.
I don't think you need motivation to win a league or a trophy. It's every footballer's dream. It's why you play football. You enjoy and love the game, but you play to win and be the best.
As a footballer I can't imagine life without the use of one of my legs... Sadly this is exactly what happens to thousands of children every year when they accidentally step on a landmine.
Six years at Ajax and eight years at Tottenham, that reflects the way I want to be as a footballer, I like stability and that is what Benfica offered me and that was very important for me.
The way I look at it, a footballer wouldn't play in flip-flops or dip their feet in acid and then expect to get to David Beckham's level. My voice is my living, so I'll be looking after it.
It's tough. That's the side people don't see. You have to balance it, get it right, and be a dad as well as a footballer. That is part of the job. Around this time of year, it's so important.
Everybody has struggles in life, and mine was to come out of a tough area in Berlin. It helped me a lot on my way to becoming a professional footballer, to being an idol and a good role model.
People talk about what I did in my private life more than if I'm good at football. 'Oh yeah, he was good, but I don't like him because of this.' But you don't know me! Know me as a footballer.
I was at Boulogne, in the second team - the sixth, then the fifth division. I wasn't professional, so I kept studying because I wasn't sure if I would be able to make a living as a footballer.
A footballer must be prepared to be welcomed when all is well and to receive criticism when things are not working out. Of course, it is not easy nor pleasant to hear negative things about you.
Beckham is unusual. He was desperate to be a footballer. His mind was made up when he was nine or ten. Many kids think that it's beyond them. But you can't succeed without practising at any sport.
Guardiola improved me a lot as a footballer. He taught me a lot of things, and that's why, in every interview I'm asked, I always say the same thing: He is the best manager that I have worked with.
My brother was an avid Stoke City fan and a good footballer. We shared a room, growing up, and the walls were covered with 1970s Stoke players, like Peter Shilton, Gordon Banks, and Jimmy Greenhoff.
When you're young, you don't think about what you want to be. I was just playing football because I had fun and enjoyed it. When I reached 16, that's when I was dreaming about becoming a footballer.
My father was a genius footballer, a natural, two-footed centre-forward who had played for Arsenal juniors, but he was sent out to work aged 14 and so lived out his life in a frustrated, rageful way.
When I was 10 years old, my teacher got us to imagine our future. I drew a timeline of the rest of my life. I had just started playing football, so I drew pictures of me as a professional footballer.
I feel very strong as an individual, but as a famous footballer I know I am prone to certain things. All the media have a continuous interest for me. It varies from once a year to every day interest.
I've met lots of footballers like Alan Shearer, David Beckham, and Steven Gerrard. I don't really get starstruck because I just think they're another footballer like me; they just get paid a lot more.
As a footballer, you're stuck in a uniform - either in team kit or a team suit. I don't really get to show my personality in my job, so style is a chance to show people part of me they don't often see.
If I wasn't acting, I'd try and be a footballer. I wouldn't be a musician because I can't write my own music. Realistically, I'd probably do something with dogs, like a vet or something. I love animals.
The message to the young players is that hard work and dedication is everything. As a footballer, or anything in life, if you're dedicated you have to fight for that and don't give up however hard it is.