Quotes About Soccer

Growing up, I wasn't a big guy; I struggled to hold on to the ball.

We should be proud of what Cristiano has been doing. He scores 50 goals per season. I struggled to hit 20.

I get a lot of front ball in a position that, normally, the opponent's defense is making the move outwards, and our attackers are getting in.

If the opponent makes a foul close to their own goal, it's a chance for us. I take it like this.

When you're leading 4-1, the opponent has nothing to lose.

In the centre, you play more with your back to the opponent's goal and have to move into the gaps.

Liverpool are a very powerful opponent.

You will not create a lot of chances in every game, but if you stop the opponent getting chances, you will win more.

I played against Ashley Cole all the time in training. For me, he is the best left-back in the world. He was the hardest opponent and I had him every day in training.

Back in my days, my favorite opponent was Diego Maradona.

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

With Tottenham's Mousa Dembele, there is a long list of reasons why he is an opponent I would hate to face.

I don't think much of automatisms, because they assume that a situation is always the same, otherwise the process no longer works. But that doesn't fit the reality with 22 players on the pitch. If the opponent is only half a metre to the left, the player suddenly doesn't know what he has to do.

I learned how to defend the ball with my body and to be faster than my opponents.

When you play Leeds, you need players who are quick and who are capable of beating opponents as they like to set up one-v-one.

My philosophy is to attack the opponents near their own goal because your own way to the goal is not as along, if you get the ball higher up.

The last thing you want as a striker is the opposing team putting all 10 players behind the ball.

We center backs had to cover a lot of ground, and we had to be very physical with the opposing strikers.

Like Christians, Soccerians argue that you should not judge the essence of their faith by the loopy activities of its followers. But the Beautiful Game is in fact quite the opposite. It is badly designed and riddled with flaws.

When Messi has the ball centrally, with time, he has so many options to hurt you.

Maybe an orange card could be shown that sees a player go out of the game for 10 minutes for incidents that are not heavy enough for a red card.

My friend Adam gave me my first chance to play in an organised match, for Steventon, when I was 10. The team were one player short, and I joined in. I had never played before, but I came on and scored a perfect hat-trick: header, left foot, right foot.

As a striker, as I originally was, and then an attacking midfielder, it has always been my aim in life to embarrass goalkeepers: to dominate them, to force them into mistakes.

I am very good friends with Oscar and David Luiz, and Ramires at Chelsea is another one I see.