"No. Reporters at press conferences would always ask me about that, and I would tell them, 'Listen, I don't need to be captain. If we have another player as captain, then there are two leaders in the g…"

"I don't believe in luck. I believe in hard work."

"Football is a game of mistakes. Whoever makes the fewest mistakes wins."

"I don't believe there is such a thing as a 'born' soccer player. Perhaps you are born with certain skills and talents, but quite frankly it seems impossible to me that one is actually born to be an ac…"

"I was born to play football, just like Beethoven was born to write music and Michelangelo was born to paint."