The Week in Quotes - WORLD FOOTBALL
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“He didn’t have the baby, did he? Unless he’s breastfeeding he should be fine.”
Roy Keane responds to being asked if Robbie Keane would be available to face Germany with the Republic of Ireland on Thursday – three days after wife Claudine gave birth
"This is the best defeat of my life."
Gareth Bale reacts to losing 2-0 to Bosnia and Herzegovina, having also just found out they still clinched a place at UEFA EURO 2016 after Israel's defeat to Cyprus
"I turned down the chance to take charge of Real Madrid after we had won the Champions League with Borussia Dortmund in 1997. I lost a fair bit of sleep over that decision. But in the end I thought 'I will get fired before I even get the chance to learn Spanish'."
Legendary coach Ottmar Hitzfeld on turning down the chance to take charge at the Santiago Bernabeu
“At the moment, the LFC family is too nervous, too pessimistic, too much in doubt. They all celebrate the game but they don't believe in this moment. History is great but it's only to remember."
Jurgen Klopp at his opening press conference as Liverpool manager
"As soon as I stuck my thumb up, the Greeks scored. So that will never, ever happen again. It’s not in my make-up to be like that. The supporters were singing for me to give a wave. Personally, I hate that."
Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill's one regret from the night that Northern Ireland qualified for UEFA EURO 2016
"These great players, they have their moments over one to three years but to continue over five years, for ten years the way Wayne Rooney has done is not easy. It’s pressure everyday playing for a big team. He runs a lot, he fights a lot, he sacrifices a lot. When he played with Cristiano Ronaldo all the work was done by Wayne Rooney but he didn’t get the credit because Ronaldo was scoring all of the goals."
Zlatan Ibrahimovic reveals his admiration for England's top goalscorer Wayne Rooney
"Every record is made to be broken. I myself overtook [Dominique] Rocheteau. But I'm happy about it. We're not talking about just anyone. We're talking about Ibrahimovic - a great player with extraordinary ability. It had to happen one day. And Ibrahimovic deserves to dethrone me."
Pauleta on Ibra, after the Swede broke the former Paris Saint-Germain's goal-scoring record at the club
“At the moment Mexico have greater quality in their squad. USA aren’t the same team they were a few years ago. What wins matches is the quality of your players. History doesn’t play and neither do the jerseys. If a team has greater quality and is aware of that fact, then they have to be favourites.”
Former USA and Mexico coach Bora Milutinovic gives his assessment of the two sides in conversation with FIFA.com ahead of the pair's FIFA Confederations Cup Russia 2017 play-off. It was wisdom that proved correct as Mexico won 3-2 after extra time.
“The chance to play against Messi would be unbelievable, or even Brazil. Neymar would be great to come up against, I'd like to test myself against Neymar.”
Kyle Lafferty feigns a geography meltdown as he jokingly responds to an interviewer's question over who he hopes Northern Ireland will face at France 2016
"He has his days. Sometimes he comes in wanting to talk and make jokes, but he also has crazy days. When that's the case it's better not to talk to him. We see him there and no one dares to say anything."
Lionel Messi comments on when Argentina and Barcelona team-mate Javier Mascherano gets a little moody