Quote

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.

Often there are players who have only football as a way of expressing themselves and never develop other interests. And when they no longer play football, they no longer do anything; they no longer exist, or rather they have the sensation of no longer existing.

When people watch football, they're looking for fun things.

I think at some point during the course of the game, I will have an impact - whether it's blocking or whether it's catching the football.

This is a physical game, and that's how you have to play. When you do that, the defense eventually gets tired of tackling you.

Football is a game you cannot play without making mistakes.

Football is a chess game to me. If you move your pawn against my bishop, I'll counter that move to beat you. Football is the same way. I study so much film that I know exactly what teams are going to do. I love knowing what a offense is going to run and stuffing that play.

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.

That's kind of how I approach life and football; why dwell on something that's hasn't happened.

When you let those defensive backs know that you're a physical player, they don't really want to tackle. That's it. That's why you see me get a hurdle every game. Those guys don't want to tackle me when I get to the second level.