Michael Owen Quotes

There's nothing quite like a World Cup.

My Dad was briefly an Everton player and I used to follow them as a boy.

You always come back to earth with a thump at some stage. Life has it's ups and downs; the acid test is how you handle the downs.

I remember running around the park as a kid and pretending, shouting out 'Michael Owen in the cup final. He scores!' To actually fulfil that dream when you're older and score two goals made it just a magical day.

Best players I played with? Striker wise, well, I had a great record with Emile Heskey - he would be one of my favourite partnerships because we were so different and worked together so well.

The Champions League is more interesting to watch than international football and the quality is superior as well.

Nobody on this planet had a range of passing like Paul Scholes. Training every day was a pleasure just watching him. Unbelievable career.

It was a real eye opener and I'm really pleased that I spent a year out there [in Real Madrid].

If you only ever give 90% in training then you will only ever give 90% when it matters.

For me there's nothing better than putting the white shirt on for England and playing for England. I'd get worried if it wasn't like that.

England have players who can rattle anyone's feathers

I've always been a player that likes to get round the back and get crosses in for other people. When I first burst on to the scene some people only saw the goals I was scoring. More recently they've taken notice of the goals I've set up. It is nice to be recognized for that.

There is no doubt that I would have won more honours had I signed for Manchester United as a youngster.

The longer my career has gone, the more I seem to score... It's experience and age and knowing where the ball's going to be.

I hate to admit this but I don't even know how to make a cup of tea or coffee. I can boil a kettle for a pot noodle and I've been known to warm up some food in the microwave.

All Newcastle fans need to know is that I will be giving everything for their cause now.

[Wayne Rooney] has to be viewed as a great England striker if he breaks Sir Bobby Charlton's record. Scoring goals at international level is much more difficult than it was a few years back because even the lesser teams are well organised and don't concede too many goals these days.

I have always been confident that I would make it to the top.

If you look at football over the last 50 years there has been a gradual decrease in goals, you don't see too many 10-nils these days, but two, three or four goals per game is a good spectacle.

To be at the top, you have to have a competitive streak in you. If you're not performing, you've got to be angry with yourself.

I loved [Real Madrid]. It was a real experience, playing with a great team. One of the first questions I'm often asked is 'What was Madrid like?' It's got that mystique about it. It's a magical place and a magical team, and everything about it is great.

I thought I would break the scoring record when I got to 40 goals by the age of 27 or 28, but then Fabio Capello took over and he never picked me again.

You need people who score goals. That's how you win games

I don't get a lot of enjoyment out of sitting there for an hour and a half watching a game like we saw between Ireland and England last Sunday.

I wouldn't change my life for the world at the moment.

I was proper, proper fast at one point, and obviously I'm not now, so I've lost certain things, but when I was that fast I didn't need to do certain other things in a game. It was such a potent weapon.

To be the best you have to forget partying and concentrate all your energies on the football.

As everyone knows I've got a passion for horses.

I think it's getting tougher and tougher, all the big teams are getting stronger and there's more of them.

Scholesy was a genius, absolute genius. He was a center-forward's dream, you could make a run and he'd put the ball perfectly in your path. Any footballer you ask will always tell you that Scholesy was one of the best players they've ever played with.

The better the opposition put in front of you, the better your team plays.

The Spanish league is fantastic, but it has not the great passion the English Premiership has got.

When you put better teams in front of you, that's when the big players rise to that occasion.

I think nowadays Manchester United is more competitive than it's ever been. Obviously, over the last one or two decades, they've always had one challenger or two challengers maybe, whether it be Arsenal or Chelsea.

Manchester United will always be a competitor, just because of the very size of them.

There have been more things wrong with England than just Wayne Rooney in the last few years.

A new club is like having a new girlfriend – you don't have feelings straight away

You're on your own out there with ten mates.

It bothers me when I don't score.

I can't believe anyone can have played the game of football as well as Messi.

Clubs don't like their players going off to play international matches and you can see a scenario where they eventually start to make it more difficult for international sides to call up players.

Everton have a healthy list of injuries.

An emotion that lives with me is a sense of what might have been had injuries not robbed me of my most lethal weapon - speed.

Give me a great Champions League game or an exciting Premier League game ahead of an international match and I'd love that to reverse. A lot of people have lost interest in England games, it is quite hard to watch.

I think in terms of best players, I would have to say Ronaldo, the real Ronaldo, the Brazilian one. I was fortunate enough to have a year with him at Real Madrid. He was at the end of his career and was probably half the player he was. But, in his prime, he was quite simply astonishing.

If you cut me in half, I'm a footballer.

I don't believe in superstitions. I just do certain things because I'm scared in case something will happen if I don't do them

I feel that every time I get the ball at the moment I am going to score.