Quotes About Football

The only opponent who has been able to keep up with me was Roberto Carlos.

You will rarely see a defender in front of the opponent's goal.

The opponent I have most admired during my career is Paolo Maldini.

As an opponent, the fiercest bouts were always against Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a fantastic player.

The most difficult opponent is Neymar.

A final is about winning. You can't wait for the opponent to be better than you, or let them start to play their football.

I dont really care what other people think, Ive always said that. At the end of the day its really about us and we want to play our football against a good opponent - whether other people like it or dont like it is pretty irrelevant to be honest.

We will not take Arsenal lightly for one minute, as they showed in the two matches against us last season that they can be dangerous opponents if we lose our concentration for a moment.

In football you need opponents, competition because if you are alone with two or three clubs controlling everything you don't have any competition.

Villarreal have played well against difficult opponents. They're never an easy team to beat.

I learned a lot with Andre Villas-Boas at Porto. He is very intelligent tactically. He was almost so well informed about the opponents that we pretty much knew everything about them when we went out on to the pitch. It was scary how much we knew.

Football is great because you always have another opportunity to change history.

I have never had the opportunity to play in England, so I know little about it.

I find the game mentally challenging and really enjoy the chess match that occurs every week between the offense and the opposing defense.

I've never seen a Barca without control of the game. I've never seen a Barca that doesn't have the ball and lets the opposition attack all the time.

In football, you don't hold on to the ball just to hold on to the ball. When you have it you need to be dangerous, create opportunities and score goals. And when you don't, you make sure the opposition doesn't.

This is football, and one cannot be distracted at any moment because the opposition can put you in difficulty and compromise a result.

I am a player who helps in defence but I have played in a more attacking position during my career and I like to be close the opposition area.

If English clubs are not giving you a chance then going abroad is always an option. That's what the Bundesliga is about.

The best option for my family is for me to stick with Liverpool.

A loan wasn't always my first option, but when I heard the Bundesliga and Hoffenheim was an option for me and working with the manager there, it was something I wanted to do.

When you get to 16 at Barcelona, it's the age that you sign your main contract. I was about to sign that, but we knew there were a lot of other options because you always get them from other teams at that time. I didn't have the option to come to Arsenal until I was right about to sign with Barcelona.

When I was talking with Shanghai, I was talking to big clubs from Europe, as well. There was Atletico Madrid, who I almost joined. I liked them very much and what they were offering me at the time. There was also Juventus, Inter Milan, and AC Milan. I had some options.

The beginning of a career is hard for many players, often because of the ordinary day-to-day problems that football and life bring.