When people succeed, it is because of hard work. Luck has nothing to do with success.
A penalty is a cowardly way to score.
The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning.
Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.
Everything is practice.
Play for the name on the front of the shirt, and they will remember the name on the back.
Always believe in your ability and in your goals. This is the only way you will be able to reach them.
Complaining about boring football is a little like complaining about the sad ending of King Lear: it misses the point somehow.
I worked on my weaknesses and made them my strengths.
I am not a perfectionist, but I like to feel that things are done well. More important than that, I feel an endless need to learn, to improve, to evolve, not only to please the coach and the fans but also to feel satisfied with myself.
Your love makes me strong, your hate makes me unstoppable!
I’ve never tried to hide the fact that it is my intention to become the best.
It is my conviction that there are no limits to learning, and that it can never stop, no matter what our age.
I’m living a dream I never want to wake up from.
Maybe they hate me because I’m too good.
Talent without working hard is nothing.
I don’t mind people hating me, because it pushes me.
I think sometimes the best training is to rest.
Every time I went away I was deceiving my mum. I’d tell her I was going to school but I’d be out on the street playing football. I always had a ball on my feet.
There are more important things in life than winning or losing a game.
What I do is play soccer, which is what I like.
You can overcome anything, if, and only if, you love something enough.
My ambition is always to get better and better.
Something deep in my character allows me to take the hits, and get on with trying to win.
Barcelona gave me everything, they took a chance on me when nobody else would. I never have any desire to play for anybody else, I will be here for as long as they want me.
The best decisions aren’t made with your mind, but with your instinct.
The objective is to win with all the team, personal records are secondary.
You have to fight to reach your dream. You have to sacrifice and work hard for it.
God gives gifts to everyone, some can write, some can dance. He gave me the skill to play football and I am making the most of it.
It is not just about the money, it is about what you achieve on the pitch.
My heroes were always soccer players.
I learned all about life with a ball at my feet.
In football everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team.
The thing about football ~ the important thing about football – is that it is not just about football.
What I learned from directing, I learned from soccer, where it’s like a coach-player relationship.
Football is all about sentiment; if it weren’t then we’d all support Manchester United.
Though the legs of a football coach are never so active on the field of play during playing time, his mind is the best or worst player on the pitch!
Blake looked confused. So footballers were mostly the same the world over. “Football,” Blake said. “Ya know… football?
Accepting the eventual certainty of defeat in turn liberates you to take real joy in any small victory, that one good kick.
Basically my whole life revolves around soccer. Everything just gets put on the back burner because of my training. But at the end of the day, I’m sitting here as a world champion, and it feels pretty good.
For me, practice and discipline are the magic words to become big in any sport, especially soccer.
To be the ultimate team, you must use your body and your mind. Draw up on the resources of your teammates. Remember, only teams succeed.
I don’t believe skill was, or ever will be, the result of coaches. It is a result of a love affair between the child and the ball.
I will forgive if the players cannot get it right, but not if they do not try hard.
A great soccer player is never content with their performance.
Keep working even when no one is watching.
If you’re not sweating, you’re not working hard enough.
Whatever brings you down will eventually make you stronger.
The smartest thing I did is I never gave up.
One thing you can guarantee as a football fan, maybe the only thing you can guarantee, is that sooner or later someone else is going to have a go at you and your team.
I love football, and you love football, and arguing about it is just a waste of time.
I want to win and always have done since I was small. I don’t know if it’s in my blood or just my personality.
I have to be scoring goals and playing well to get in the team because, if not, others who are in better form will play.
Our country has been through difficult experiences in terms of unity. Sport – football in particular – has the power to help that. It is a special feeling.
The questions around us principally come down to character; the essential ability to withstand events that go against you.
People in football love to talk about mental strength. Well, I’m the strongest dude you’re ever going to meet.
If you weren’t with me when I had nothing, then you can’t really understand me.
But it’s cool. Those people weren’t with me when we were pouring water in our cereal.
I’m going to remember to have fun this time. Life is too short for the stress and the drama.
There’s no in-between – you’re either good or bad. We were in-between.
I think foosball is a combination of soccer and shish kabobs.
When I was younger, soccer was my life. I always wanted to play.
I reckoned I could meet more girls being in a band than playing soccer.
I believe that a bad Super Bowl halftime show is still better than a soccer game.
I’m attracted to soccer’s capacity for beauty. When well played, the game is a dance with a ball.And one fine day the goddess of the wind kisses the foot of man, that mistreated, scorned foot, and from that kiss the soccer idol is born. He is born in a straw crib in a tin-roofed shack and he enters the world clinging to a ball.
Good soccer players need not be titans sculpted by Michelangelo. In soccer, ability is much more important than shape, and in many cases, skill is the art of turning limitations into virtues.
When good soccer happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.
I don’t have time for hobbies. At the end of the day, I treat my job as a hobby. It’s something I love doing.
Soccer is an art more central to our culture than anything the Arts Council deigns to recognize.
Everything I know about morality and the obligations of men, I owe it to football (soccer).
All I know of morality I learned from football.
Behind every kick of the ball there has to be a thought.
I once cried because I had no shoes to play soccer, but one day, I met a man who had no feet.
If you’re in the penalty area and don’t know what to do with the ball, put it in the net and we’ll discuss the options later.
I really want to try soccer after I retire because I’ve watched football over the years and I think I could be a good contender.
When I’ve done gymnastics, ballet or soccer – I was always trying to be the best. I’m really driven. Really driven.
That’s the mentality – don’t just play it, win it.
Soccer is simple, but it is difficult to play simple.
I go overseas, and all the soccer players come to me, like, ‘Yeah bro, we always play ‘Mo Bamba.” It’s crazy.
Before kids can play like a pro, they must enjoy playing the game like a kid.
A man with new ideas is a madman, until his ideas triumph.
Becoming a footballer is only the first half of the silent prayer a kid offers up to the sky or confides to his teacher in a primary school essay. The second part is the name of the team he wants to play for.
Those who say it can’t be done, shouldn’t interfere with those who are doing it.
You’ve got to believe you’re going to win, and I believe we’ll win the World Cup until the final whistle blows and we’re knocked out.
Some people tell me that professional players are soccer slaves. Well, if this is slavery, give me a life sentence.
Football is the ballet of the masses.
The rules of soccer are very simple, basically, it is this: if it moves, kick it. If it doesn’t move, kick it until it does.
The trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they do not know the game.
Some people think football [soccer] is a matter of life and death. I don’t like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that.
Football is the poetry of a motion.
Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.
If a man watches three football games in a row, he should be declared legally dead.
If Earth had a soccer team, everyone on Earth would wear the same jersey to support it. There’d be no them, there’d only be us.
Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans win.
We must have had 99 percent of the game. it was the other three percent that cost us the match.
Football is an art, players paint with their feet.
Men spend their time in following a ball or a hare; it is the pleasure even of kings.
I took a whack on my left ankle, but something told me it was my right.
I would not be bothered if we lost every game as long as we won the league.
If you’re attacking, you don’t get as tired as when you’re chasing.
I think there are a lot of things that soccer does in the communities that transcend the soccer field.
I have to keep working hard and playing well because I don’t like to be second or third: they’re the worst places to be. You would be proud, of course, because it means you’re on the way, but you want to finish first.
Outside football, I just love life, you know. We’re lucky to play football, to have all this body. Everyone’s watching us.
I only think about the pitch. I want to do great. I want to be one of the best. I want to win titles. I want to achieve things.
The players are writing a beautiful page of French football history.
I hope the players benefit from my experience but this is their final. It is something they have worked for and they will be able to enjoy it.
Only in sport can you live through emotions like this. We knew how to put them in difficulty, we made them run, we prepared well.
All goal scorers go on droughts. It is how you cope with that. And it is not just about scoring, it is about what you bring to the team, bringing others into play and getting assists.
I’ve always been working hard on my speed for the last few years. Obviously, I’m not slow, but as a striker, the more speed you have, the better you are.
Since the beginning of the competition he has got it right, and I hope it will be the same for the final.
Tactically, the coach did a perfect job yesterday, so we know we will be fully prepared.
I always look forward to playing for my national team, especially at major tournaments.
We dominated the game physically and mentally, in all aspects. We should have killed the game before extra-time.
Take the risk, or lose the chance.
Like Zidane, I want to inspire the kids.
There is no pressure when you are making a dream come true.
Everything in my life has happened very early, personally and professionally. I’m always learning: I have to.
They say Rome wasn’t built in a day, but I wasn’t on that particular job.
The ball is round, the game lasts ninety minutes, and everything else is just theory.
Soccer is not about justice. It’s a drama, and criminally wrong decisions against you are part and parcel of that.
It is a unique and special feeling when the fans sing my name. It’s incredible when I hear the song, and it’s touching that there are people who connect with you.
Nobody has enough talent to live on talent alone. Even when you have talent, a life without work goes nowhere.
To be a professional you have to act like one as well.
I just hate losing and that gives you an extra determination to work harder.
