I was lucky to come from a difficult area. It teaches you not just about football but also life.

I have won many awards and I am very happy about this, but I am not the best player in the world.

I once cried because I had no shoes to play soccer, but one day, I met a man who had no feet.

Everything I have achieved in football is due to playing football in the streets with my friends

Ronaldinho is a special player, but Thierry Henry is probably technically the most gifted footballer ever to play the beautiful game.

You rarely come across the complete footballer, but Scholes is as close to it as you can get. One of my regrets is that the opportunity to play alongside him never presented itself during my career.

My toughest opponent? Scholes of Manchester. He is the complete midfielder.

I don't know if we are the best team in the world. I am lucky to be playing alongside some of the best players around. It's a dream.

If Giggs was French, Pires or myself would have been on the bench.

All of us at Juventus agreed Manchester United were the best side we met in the Champions League. They have so many talented young players and can only get better and better. Giggs is truly world class

Messi is the Mozart of football.

Everything Iniesta does impresses me. He could even play as goalkeeper. He's magical.

Obviously fashion is a completely different world from football.

It's true, pressure is something that goes with football nowadays. You need to accept it, and everything that it involves - the good and the bad.

The French team has given me so much and I want to help it. I told myself I did not have much time left in soccer, and I want to profit from it to the maximum.

He’s [Gerald Ford] a nice guy but he played too much football with his helmet off.

I grew up in Doncaster and have felt the love for football run through the town; it's for that reason that I have a real personal passion to make Doncaster Rovers a success story.

I've always really just liked football, and I've always devoted a lot of time to it. When I was a kid, my friends would call me to go out with them, but I would stay home because I had practice the next day. I like going out, but you have to know when you can and when you can't.

The truth is my idea has been to always stay at Barcelona and see out the rest of my career here. Like I always say, one doesn't know what can happen in the future, but if it were up to me to decide, I would stay at Barcelona for the rest of my career.

It's not so easy for us when we play teams who have a different mindset, like Chelsea or Inter Milan, because they have the intention of trying to stop us rather than playing a game that is more attractive for the spectators to enjoy.

It seems like people want to blame me for everything. Whenever any issue arises, I'm said to have been involved even if I've had nothing to do with it. That's why I always focus on what I know, which is playing football, and try to be very careful with what I say because people always try and twist things.

Money is not a motivating factor. Money doesn't thrill me or make me play better because there are benefits to being wealthy. I'm just happy with a ball at my feet. My motivation comes from playing the game I love. If I wasn't paid to be a professional footballer I would willingly play for nothing.

I prefer to win titles with the team ahead of individual awards or scoring more goals than anyone else. I'm more worried about being a good person than being the best football player in the world. When all this is over, what are you left with? When I retire, I hope I am remembered for being a decent guy.

There are more important things in life than winning or losing a game.