Quote

There are two types of football - there's physical football and football talent.

To me, football is so much about mental toughness, it's digging deep, it's doing whatever you need to do to help a team win and that comes in a lot of shapes and forms.

Football doesn't build character. It eliminates the weak ones.

You have different sorts of people in life, so why should it be any different in football?

You must respect people and work hard to be in shape. And I used to train very hard. When the others players went to the beach after training, I was there kicking the ball.

Football is like life - it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority.

Fitness has always been one of the top priorities in my life because that's the way I grew up, with soccer being the sport of choice.

At least for soccer players, it comes down to a blend of two types of fitness - your base endurance, which comes from longer distance running, and your speed, which comes from sprint-based workouts.

No, I didn't quite know to what extent the football might be, but it was quite a bonus for me to try to learn new skills and to keep fit at the same time.

Football develops, it becomes quicker, players develop as athletes.