Many things are necessary if you want to win games.

Obviously, I couldn't imagine that my career would go so well. When I first started, I wanted to play out of goal. But there was no goalkeeper, and the coach put me in goal.

It's obviously very tough for any team to lose on penalties.

I am a professional player, and I will naturally do everything to be in goal.

Before important games, I don't change my preparation.

First of all, I am and I remain a goalkeeper, but I try to be involved as much as I can and to help the defenders. I try to read dangerous situations in advance.

For me, the Bundesliga is a great league.

In Germany, the football association is the best.

I always want to play at the highest level; that's the Champions League.

It's difficult to say you can replace Franck Ribery one on one with another player.

Every player has different skills.

I've trained under a lot of coaches and always picked up elements that develop a player.

I think as long as I feel good and am able to perform on a high level, I will keep playing because I love football so much. After that, I have many options but haven't set any goals.

Schalke are my club. I used to stand on the terraces as a fan, and I've realised my dream of making it as a pro right here at my club.

I try and help my team-mates as best I can, and I lead from the front, on and off the field.

I do everything I can for the team's success.

It's a bitter thing to have one or more defenders missing.

I generally don't think one's age is all that meaningful - there are 50-year-olds who still act and think like children.

I love playing football every day. I love working hard, I love training, I love the games; I love the challenge. As long as that still applies, I don't see any reason to call time on something that makes me so happy.

Lewandowski is one of the world's best strikers.

What's mostly left after a match? The scenes in front of the goal where the attackers are the highlights of the play. But doing the spectacular is not particularly important to me. I just want to play for my team.

You cannot compare warm-ups with World Cup games.

It's more difficult to achieve something with the national team because players from several clubs get together and less frequently.

It's easier to fine tune in club football, and you have the chance to win the Champions League every year.

I think I am capable of captaincy.

FC Bayern are only my second club.

I am always motivated.

As players at Bayern, we're not interested in any boredom - we're interested in picking up three points each game.

We know from experience that anything can happen in games against strong opponents; nuances can make the difference.

I consider that part of my job as a pro: to know who you're up against and how the attacking players play, what kind of characteristics they have, their qualities, how they move, their preferred foot.

In life, I'm a guy who likes to drive a car quite fast, but I wear a seat belt at the same time.

If I think I will get the ball, I go out. I can't stop halfway because the goal is empty and the player would have the opportunity to shoot. You make the reaction, and then, of course, you have to be sure to get the ball. But it's years of practice. You can't say from one day to the other, 'Now I will do it,' you know? You have to feel it.

I have a good record in shoot-outs. In such moments, I'm always confident of making at least a couple of stops; I always feel the taker is under more strain. Worrying is the kicker's job, as he's expected to score, while I have nothing to lose.

I got my first football when I was two and played my first proper game before I was five. So nothing else was ever an option!

One of the great things about being a professional football player is visiting countries and seeing cultures you might never see.

A fit player has good and bad times during a season, and you have that in rehab, too.

A keeper has to adjust his game to the team. If the team moves further up, he has to do the same. It's nothing I've invented.

I have always been interested in finding new ways to play and have looked at handball keepers and ice hockey goal-minders. It helps me.

As a keeper, you can't be afraid.

As for being the best goalkeeper in the world, it's been written occasionally, but I'd never say it myself.

For me, the main thing is that I continually improve my game and make sure I keep setting the bar high.

Personal success means nothing if it isn't aligned with the success of the team. I consider myself to be a team player more than anything else.

Sometimes you can say it is boring being in goal, but what is important is I am in communication with the defence.

For me, it's more important to win a team award, like a World Cup.

It's difficult when you don't take part in team training and have to train alone.

As a goalkeeper, I talk a lot to my fellow players on and off the pitch.

The Bundesliga is a lucrative league, and in Germany, the best club is Bayern, and I wanted to play for the best club in Germany.

If you look at the history of Manchester United, they are always a big side, so there is no time of underestimating them.

People have a right to get stoned. They have a right to think and explore their own minds. This is as intimate a part of their being as their sexuality. Any culture which mitigates that is clearly afraid of a full and fair and open dialogue about what reality is and what real human values ought to be.

I think the world is growing more psychedelic every day. I'm completely hopeful. . . . This is how it should be. This is what it's like when a species prepares to depart for hyperspace.