I had a little teddy bear called Gordon the gopher. I took him to bed with me, he'd come to school with me cos he was my favourite.

When I was little, I didn't like being left on my own in the dark.

Politics come from man. Mercy, compassion, and justice come from God.

I don't envisage I will be captain again, but for two England managers, Steve McClaren and Fabio Capello, I was their first choice and I'm proud of that.

No, I love it at Chelsea. I've been here since I was 14, and I'm 28 now. All my friends are here, so I'm going to stay for ever unless Chelsea tell me I've got to go, which maybe one day they will, but for now I'm definitely staying.

Kids want to be professional footballers and I think they need to know what it takes to get there - you know, the dedication. People see footballers playing on a Saturday afternoon in front of the TV cameras, but from a Monday to Friday people don't really see what goes on.

I have played against (Michel) Platini, (Diego) Maradona, (Johan) Cruyff and played with George Best — a lot of big names, but none of them has been able to do what Messi does. Two years ago I said that the best player I played against was Maradona and the best player I have played with was Bestie. But I can now say I have never seen a player as good as Messi. He’s in a league of his own.