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Football is a sport of paradox. It requires reaction, not reflection. Yet you must use your mind to calculate, to anticipate - to think and not think at the same time.

When you just work tactically, in pure football sessions, you can see the way they can think football.

I spend the entire 90 minutes looking for space on the pitch. I'm always between the opposition's two holding midfielders and thinking, 'The defence is here, so I get the ball and I go there to where the space is.'

When you play soccer, most of the time you got to get the ball moving, but once you get into that attacking third you gotta' be creative, you gotta' let your talent take over.

Keep your eye on the ball.

Football is about joy. It's about dribbling. I favour every idea that makes the game beautiful. Every good idea has to last.

A couple of games, I played up front when Diego Costa was not there. We know to create movement - not even to get the ball, but create space for others. Now I understand football is not always with the ball at my feet.

The angle from which the line and ball are seen makes a tremendous difference in the call, and the player who is inclined to fret inwardly about decisions should realize this.

What happens is once you start to understand football, you realise that it's not just about the physical side of the game and chasing after a ball. It's a strategic sport which requires a lot of intelligence. It's a very mental game.

In life, as in football, you won't go far unless you know where the goalposts are.