Quotes from Lukas Podolski

In football, you can't sadly just go looking for a club but have to see what comes.

The main thing is to score a goal in the first half. Then everything will be possible.

I think when I play No. 10 or as a striker, I am in this position to score more goals, and I can shoot more.

I want to score in every game, play well, and set up goals.

I have celebrated major successes with Germany on the pitch, but not only that, I have experienced so much off the pitch too, visiting countries and cities all over the world.

It is not a problem to sit on the bench: absolutely not. When you have three games in a week, and you don't play, though, you have to think about it.

When you go to a club and always sit on the bench and look at the team, it is not easy.

I am a family person; we are a big family, and I need my friends around me.

If I am at 100 percent fitness, I do not fear any competition for places in the first 11.

When you are young and you play football, you must play in the street. When you go to a club at the age of five, and the coach says you must pass this, eat this, drink this... it's not a life. Young people must train for themselves, play football every day, and not have three coaches, with each one saying this and this.

Young boys and girls should be given the chance to play football.

I had the pressure when I started my career at 18 at Cologne, when people were saying, 'Ah, Podolski, the new hero of Cologne.'

I must say I personally prefer the FC Cologne anthem over the Liverpool one.

I've known Mesut for a long time now. I love to play with him, and I think he loves to play with me. We complement each other quite well.

When I choose a club, it's not for the money, language, or the weather - those things aren't important.

Cologne was my big team, my favourite team. I trained one week in Cologne, and they asked me to sign for Cologne. At 17 or 18, the coach asked me to go the first-team training ground. I was lucky to have that coach.

When you come from Poland, you have nothing. Your mother and father are working. You have only a bed for sleep. You have a kitchen, and that's it. You must fight.

I always say I have two hearts - one beats for Poland and the other for Germany.

I'm just as happy to be Polish as I am to be German.

My best position is in the middle, and if I am asked to play there, I can do it.

Football makes me happy, and I want to spend as much time I can playing or contributing to it.

I like the style of football in England and the style of Arsenal, and I'm very happy to play in the Premier League.

I like the Premier League; the style of play, I like it.

It was easy for me to play in the Premier League.