FIFA Futsal World Cup Uzbekistan 2024™

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Saturday 20 February 2021, 04:16

The Week in Quotes

“Kylian Mbappe had a great night. PSG has a great star for the future, who will be at the level of Leo Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo." Antoine Griezmann

"I love the Champions League and when I saw Mbappe score the hat-trick yesterday I got free motivation, so thanks to him. He scored some nice goals and I got a good boost from him." Erling Haaaland (Viaplay)

"The beard gets more and more grey, and I don’t sleep a lot, but I am full of energy. We will solve it." Jurgen Klopp

"There are world-class players here whom you learn from every day. I’ve been able to play alongside Andrés Iniesta, Luis Suárez. They gave me a lot of advice when I joined. Lionel Messi too. Leo is a genius, we all know about him. He's a genius, he's the best player in the history of football. He inspired me when I was young, he inspires me now, and it's honestly an honour for me to play alongside him. When I got here in 2017, I was told: "Don't look behind you when Leo has the ball at his feet. Go and run into space. Don't worry, the ball will reach you." I was constantly told that. When I start running, he always finds the pass and when he can't, he'll try again. It's like he's got eyes in the back of his head." Ousmane Dembele (UEFA.com)

"I still feel like I'm enjoying this moment that I'm in today, in football's elite. Being at Atletico, you're in football's elite. Some people didn't believe that I could still be at this level. I've got the same enthusiasm. I hope that this year, next year and for however many years it is, I keep competing and giving my best, until you realise that you've gone as far as you can. But no one will get rid of me. I'll decide when I go." Luis Suarez (ESPN)

"The striker who put me in most difficulty? Ronaldo always scored against us so it was always very difficult with him. Didier Drogba also, a force of nature. Ronaldo? He is the best finisher of all time. He scores goals for you in all different ways. His goals record says it all. His wickedness and his hunger are incredible things." Andrea Barzagli (Juventus on Twitch)

Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid CF strikes the ball trough Andrea Barzagli of Juventus

"There is a famous saying in football - 'you are only as good as your last game' - but not in my world. You are only as good as your next game. If I spend time thinking about last year's success, we are already beaten. I think about the threats, the new challenges, what we have to do to get to the next step and I will work hard on myself in the off-season. I bring in the next level of support, the new ideas - just whatever is needed. You have to be motivated and professional. That is what I have learned over my career - you have to perform daily and you can't switch off because then you are already beaten." Emma Hayes (BBC Sport)

"I didn't play with Torres long enough because he went to Chelsea and broke my heart. If you asked me who was the best player on a daily basis consistently, Suarez was an animal but my best years were alongside Torres in terms of how I felt. I was really, really gutted (when Torres left). We're working so hard at this point to try and get as close as we can to close the gap and challenge. At Liverpool at the time it always felt like we were taking huge strides and getting close and progressing really well, and then at a really key time and a key moment for the team and the group, a big player gets taken away and it takes time to recover from that. My relationship with Torres, I was getting a lot of goals at that time. I was at my peak and felt fantastic." Steven Gerrard on Fernando Torres (The Robbie Fowler Podcast)

Fernando Torres (R) of Liverpool celebrates with team-mate Stephen Gerrard

"You have to step on people's toes if you want to be successful. You don't get that kind of performance culture when you have 20 bros in a team. I haven't seen a team with a good-spirited culture that, when the going gets tough, could stand up to it every time. When the mood between everyone is too good, when it gets really tough, you lack the last per cent to be tough against yourself and against the opponents. In my eyes, you have to establish this culture every day in training. If a personal relationship or two falls by the wayside in the process: so be it. In our successful teams in 2011 and 2012 here at Dortmund, in the second half of 2018/2019, when we still won the double with Bayern under Niko Kovac and at the World Cup in 2014, those were not 23 friends, no way. I was almost fighting every day in 2014. Partly also with people with whom I now get on super well, because we all know that we did everything to make us successful." Mats Hummels (SPOX)

"What he has produced in football is exceptional. I said it many times, now, in the last season and the previous seasons when he was in Germany. His philosophy makes football entertaining for all spectators. He always wants to produce joy to the fans, to play attacking football. We all have good moments or bad moments. There is no club or manager than can sustain seasons and seasons of winning, winning, winning, winning." Pep Guardiola on Jurgen Klopp

 Josep Guardiola, head coach of Bayern Muenche greets Juergen Klopp head coach of Dortmund

“They are dangerous from the kit man to the centre-forward." Arsenal centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes on Manchester City (Daily Mail)

"I haven’t announced my retirement yet! I’m still an active footballer, in my head at least (laughs). Obviously, things have changed in my life, especially when it comes to my family, because I’ve got two sons to bring up." Jari Litmanen speaks with FIFA.com on his 50th birthday