Quotes from Niko Kovac

Fortunately, I had some very good coaches.

Giving up is the first way to fail. It does not exist for me.

Dembele is a great player.

Fitness gives you confidence, and if you're fit, you don't have to wonder whether you'll last the 90 minutes.

The words 'give up,' 'raise the white flag' do not exist in my vocabulary.

You have seen it: You can put something into the world, and all of a sudden, everybody believes that. Like throwing a fishing rod and the fish bite into.

You have to stick to your plan. Throwing everything overboard and inventing something on the spot does not make sense. You will never get that from me.

Of course, the attacking players get the attention because they score the goals, score nice goals, and those are the moments that remain in memory. But I wish that other players who are not in the foreground, who still perform well for their club or association, get more recognition.

For the players, these top, top, top games or these top, top, top events - like a World Cup or a European Championship - are not common but, of course, something special.

We want to chase and seal the championship title. The decisive thing is to be at the top at the end of the season.

It is not for nothing that titles are decided at the back.

At Bayern, you always go into a season with the goal to win titles.

It's all about togetherness and to pay the other the necessary respect. If you do that, then we all would feel better. It is not always a taking but also a giving in both directions.

If you stick to what the Bible teaches, then you have everything you need: honesty, openness, friendliness, respect, tolerance, and much more, which is often lost nowadays.

We're all different, and we have to accept and tolerate each other's characteristics.

In the emotion, you say things that you regret the next day.

Attacking is the tough part in football; defending is relatively easy.

The players who play have to perform. If they don't, then they will be replaced. That has always been the case.

We were raised as Christians, and religion plays an important role for us.

Life writes the best stories.

Expectations run immensely high in Croatia. We may only be a small country, but people expect us to be our best at every major tournament.

The expectation in Munich is always high, this expectation I have towards myself personally and to my players. I was aware of that when I signed with Bayern.

Just because a coach does not get out the clubs after a match but instead focuses on what he says, that's not an indicator of cluelessness.

I don't believe it helps when internal affairs are made public.