Quotes About Adversity

It gets frustrating when you play basketball for your whole life and then it gets taken from you for a little bit.

I like to play basketball. Sometimes if someone takes that away from you, you've got to get in your feelings for a reason.

I play basketball hard-nosed and if you're not on my team, during that 48 minutes we're enemies.

I just think we're all high-level basketball players, best in the world. And no matter the outside circumstance, we still have to play basketball.

You have to admit, yes you play football, but at the same time you must not forget you are a defender and have to fight. Put your face in where it hurts.

Believe it or not, one teacher used to call me a giant spastic for not being able to play football.

When I wasn't famous, I had a lot of friends, almost all of them Italian. The racism only started when I started to play football.

I had a coach when I was getting recruited say maybe you should play basketball at a Division III level, because you're not good enough to play football in college.

It's not like I can't play football with some injuries.

I played college basketball. When I first decided I was going to play football, there were a lot of people telling me that I wasn't going to make it.

You can play football in Bayern, in Barcelona, in Manchester, in London, wherever. In the end, it's football, and you want to play with the best.

I look at the opportunity to play football as a blessing and I think what doesn't kill you certainly makes you stronger.

If we can't handle pressure, we don't play football.

I just wanted to play football and didn't get the chance in Germany in my second season there.

If you play football and fans are booing or saying negative stuff, it makes me play better.

I like to play football.

I've been through seasons where I've not played a lot of games, and its been difficult due to injuries and stuff like that.

I played with a herniated disk that I didn't find out was herniated until I tore my meniscus.

I have just been a bit inconsistent when I have played. That happens in football, especially when you have been out for a long period.

You can learn more from the lows than the highs. The highs are great but the lows make you really look at things in a different way and want to improve. Every player will have both in their careers and I have, but what you get is that experience which is so important to perform at your best.

Injuries are a part and parcel of a player's career.

It's not good to have so many key players injured, but there is no point complaining about it.

There's nobody you can point to in the world that doesn't make a mistake. The best players, the best business people, the best coaches. So one thing is not going to make or break a person.

At the end of the day, it's my players play against their players, and the end of the day, that's what's important.