The Week in Quotes - WORLD FOOTBALL

The Week in Quotes - WORLD FOOTBALL

AFP

"It feels great [to be back]. To be honest, I've kept it quiet for the last 13 years, but I've actually been wearing Everton pyjamas at home with my kids. I had to keep that a bit quiet!"
After returning to his childhood club, Wayne Rooney tells Everton TV about a secret of his, while he was playing for Manchester United

"I always asked my mother what number, and I used to play with the No10 because my mother's birthday is on 10 October, so it's the tenth month of the year. That's why I played with No10. I asked for the No9 because I'm a striker. Strikers play with No9. It's a nice number, and I asked the permission of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. I want to thank him, as well, for allowing me to wear that number."
New Manchester United signing Romelu Lukaku talks with ESPN FC about the reasoning behind his new number

"The guy is born to be one of the best players in the world. How he talks, how he manages his life is unbelievable. He’s only 18. But he looks like he’s a real, real professional player. He knows what he wants and that shocked me. To be mature at this age, I haven't seen many players like him."
Former France international defender William Gallas speaks with Goal about young France and Monaco star Kylian Mbappe

"It’s about knowing that pressure and dealing with that pressure. Even against Germany in the match for third place, it was that pressure of ‘if we don’t win this game, we go home without a medal’. Awfully, we did get knocked out in the semi-finals and we know how much that hurts. We don’t want that to happen again.”
England forward Fran Kirby speaks about the Lionesses' aspirations at UEFA Women's EURO 2017

"I want to be a manager, I don’t want to hide it. And obviously I don’t want to hide the fact that sooner or later, I want to be manager of Barcelona. But first, I have to learn and that’s not a one month, two month or three month process, but takes years. To coach Barcelona, you have to be very, very well trained but, as I said, my dream is to sit on Barça’s bench as manager one day."
Former Barcelona and Spain midfielder Xavi makes his intentions for the future clear, in an interview with Sport  

"The Bundesliga is very attractive and I always watched Bayern games as a kid because it's a very big club. Bayern is an historic club and everybody knows what it represents on the world stage. I'm very proud to be only the second Colombian [after Adolfo Valencia] to play for Bayern. I want to make history here."
New Bayern Munich signing James Rodriguez speaks about his admiration for the German champions at his official unveiling

"I have won the World Cup and the European Championship with Spain, we have made history. I will try to win it [the World Cup] again, but after that, I will retire from the Spanish national team. We have a new coach, Julen Lopetegui, he is doing a great job, he is demonstrating his character and we are playing great football. We are confident that he will play a great role in the tournament."
Spain defender Gerard Pique tells Qatar's TV One that he will retire after the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™

"There is immense pride to watch the national flag and listen to the national anthem. We represent our country and we want to convey our message – we can achieve our footballing goals, despite the sufferings. We play for the joy of our people."
Syria captain Ahmad Al Salih speaks about his nation's resilience and sheer determinationduring the ongoing 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia qualifying campaign

"If you're good enough, you're old enough."
Former Canada goalkeeper Craig Forrest speaks on Sportsnet about 16-year-old Canadian sensation Alphonso Davies, who became the youngest-ever goalscorer in CONCACAF Gold Cup history

"In Germany, we had a goalscorer, his name was Gerd Muller. He scored like that 80 per cent of the time, always with his back to the goal. He was my role model in that situation."
Arsenal defender and captain Per Mertesacker reveals the inspiration behind his unlikely overhead kick during a pre-season match against Sydney FC, in an interview with Arsenal Player