Saturday 11 April 2020, 11:34

The Week in Quotes

"I went over to him [Cristiano Ronaldo] afterwards in the tunnel. I felt it was important to speak to him while it was still fresh and to do it face to face. He gave me a look as if to say sorry but by then I had my [Manchester] United head on. I said I've no issues with you. Enjoy your tournament and good luck. I'll see you in a few weeks - and let's go try and win the league. The next three years were our best as a partnership and brought three titles and the Champions League. My red card in Gelsenkirchen was the starting point." Wayne Rooney writes about getting sent off during the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™ quarter-finals in his Sunday Times column

"[I want to be remembered] as a Liverpool legend. I want to achieve incredible things here. We have a fantastic team, we don't lack anything, we have all the tools necessary to go on winning: a coach that we identify with, a versatile squad, a style of play that breeds victories, a stadium and supporters that play their part. Yes, I would like to be one of those players that return to Anfield after retiring. I see club legends at games and I feel part of a really big family." Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk talks about his career dreams with Sport

"It was a shirt I made for myself. My parents didn’t have so much money to buy me one so I made one for myself - it was number nine, George Weah. It was just a white t-shirt and I wrote the number nine and his name on the back." Chelsea defender Toni Rudiger on the first football kit he ever wore, speaking with Chelsea's official website

Sami Khedira takes to social media to celebrate his birthday with a sense of humor while practising social distancing

"Messi is the best in history, but Ronaldinho is with the best. The rest follow. He [Ronaldinho] is with the best – with Ronaldo 'Fenomeno', with Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, that group." Xavi tells Globo Esporte that he believes Lionel Messi is the greatest player of all time

“In the first training sessions, we saw that this was a player of a different class. I told him when he arrived at Lille but for me he is maybe the future Drogba of the French league. If he stays for at least two seasons, he will score goal after goal. He has all the qualities of a modern attacker. He is fast, he jumps high, he is strong in duels, good with the ball, he plays deep. He will overcome his little imperfections by playing, he is a phenomenon." Speaking to RMC Sport, Nicolas Penneteau speaks with RMC Sport about Nigeria and Lille striker Victor Osimhen, who he played with at Belgian side Charleroi

"When I was young my dad was always saying how proud he was of me. He was a man with a big heart. When he died, it had a big impact on me and the rest of my family. I said to myself: ‘Now I have to do my best to help my mother.’ That’s a hard thing to deal with when you are so young." Sadio Mane opens up about his upbringing with The Guardian

"Nobody supported me in the family. Not even my extended my family, My parents always tell me that I’m a girl and not a boy. So football isn’t for me but for my brother. To those experiencing this, all I’ll just say is, be determined, pray to God and work hard to achieve your aim, convince them by making them proud in what you do." Sunshine Queens and Nigeria U-20 women's Falconets forward Innocent Patricia shares her experience with NB Sports

"There are so many moments. Everyone assumes scoring four goals against Liverpool would be my highlight or captaining Australia at a World Cup. But I'd have to say kicking the ball in the family backyard with my dad will always be my greatest football memory." Former Australia captain Mark Viduka when asked about his career highlights by ESPN

"His death affected me a lot because our lives had much in common. I met Kobe personally and the times he came to Paris. When you meet the person behind the athlete, it creates a different relationship and with Kobe, it was very special. Sports and society lost a great guy." Neymar talks about the death of the late Kobe Bryant and how it affected him in an interview with Vogue Men Arabia

"He was mad. I think he was what we needed in the dressing room. He’s unbelievable, he still had the talent and even though he was a bit older he was still the amazing player that he had been. But I think inside the dressing room he was great. He had a lot of jokes but I think when it got serious, and when he had to sort of put his foot down, you knew about it. I think he was a born winner. Even in little training games, if he didn’t win and you were on his team he would absolutely kill you. So I think he got the best out of everyone when he was there, as in training-wise, because people couldn’t sort of [slack] off kind of because if you’re on his team and you lose, you’re dead." Manchester United defender Luke Shaw gives insight into being team-mates with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, during a Combat Corona FIFA Twitch tournament

"At Leverkusen, I had a great partnership with a guy called França. We scored so many goals. We destroyed Bayern Munich 4-1 one season. We both got two goals each. He didn't speak English or German so outside the pitch we didn't say a word. Literally nothing. Honestly, nothing. I saw how he trained and played on the pitch and the other way around. When we stepped on the pitch, man, it was like we were sleeping together!" Dimitar Berbatov reveals who his favourite strike partner was during his career with Goal

"Tyler's crazy. He's a different breed of human. I remember one game he lost his guy - he was probably 17 or 18-years-old at the time - on a set piece and our opponents scored a goal and two minutes later he sprints over to the sideline at our coach Jesse Marsch at the time and starts screaming at him about tactics and why weren't we not forcing the ball to the left. Jesse just turned around and said, 'He's right. I can't believe it. How is his mind so strong?' He doesn't think about his mistakes, he just moves on." New York Red Bulls defender Aaron Long on former team-mate Tyler Adams, speaking with Herculez Gomez on ESPNFC