I'm not the type who spends his free time in training camp playing with his Playstation or playing cards on trips. The other players thought it was odd: There he is, reading again.

I have always seen myself as an athlete. Of course, I made the mistake of unintentionally opening the door to my private life by just a crack. I wouldn't do the same thing again. It has to be accepted that my private life is private, and if that isn't the case, I have to do something about it.

I want to successfully make the transition from a life in professional sports to another life, without running into major upheavals.

After the 2006 World Cup, I knew that you don't always need success, success, success on the pitch.

I was so obsessed with football that you could say I was taking the goal home with me at night. And then one day the system fell apart.

Messi is undoubtedly a gifted footballer, like Maradona and Pele, and he's playing for the best club side in the world at the moment. He's successful and he's winning trophies, so it's only logical that he'll be voted the best player in the world.

It took me a long time to realize that football isn't martyrdom, but a game that's enjoyable, and one in which getting better at it is supposed to be fun. Perhaps it would have been better if I had understood this as a young man.