The bacillus of efficiency has also attacked football, and some dare to ask what's the point in playing well. I feel tempted to tell about the time they dared to ask Borges what is poetry for, to which he answered: 'What is a sunrise for? What are caresses for? What is the smell of coffee for?'

Before he came to Spain, photographers lined up in the discotheques, but they are still there waiting for him. Ronaldo is an obsessive of training, of the gym, of self-improvement. I’ve never seen a player in such good physical condition. He’s a gladiator.

Playing against a defensive opponent is just as bad as making love to a tree.

You cannot play with Riquelme without playing for Riquelme.

Every time I set foot on the Bernabeu turf I got the jitters, a kind of anxiety that takes hold of you the moment you step out into the glare of the floodlights.

Poverty is good for nothing, except perhaps for football.

I want to carry Manuel Neuer to my home.