The Week in Quotes - WORLD FOOTBALL
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"Messi is spectacular. It's a privilege to play with him, he always surprises, he's from another planet."
Barcelona right-back Nelson Semedo on The Best FIFA Men's Player 2017 finalist Lionel Messi, speaking with the club's website following their 6-1 win over Eibar in La Liga which Messi scored four goals
"That's the beauty of social media. They're always going to put up the one goal that flies in the top corner, but if they filmed the other 99.9 per cent of training, they'd look at his laughable shooting!"
West Ham goalkeeper Joe Hart comments about a video circulating of team-mate Pablo Zabaleta scoring a goal on him in training, speaking with the BBC
"They made me watch Maradona's goal, it was harder for him, so let's leave the comparison. It's thanks to my team-mates if I'm able to score goals like that. I am not Lionel Messi, I'm not Maradona, I'm just Dries and I'm happy with that."
Napoli forward Dries Mertens speaks with Mediaset Premium about his goal in his team's 4-1 over Lazio
"Everybody praises Ousmane Dembele and Kylian Mbappe but nobody talks about Rashford in this country. Because he's English we just say 'he plays on the left wing, he's OK'. He is up there with Dembele and Mbappe, who also play on either wing. People say you have to play Rashford as a centre forward but you can play him anywhere because he is good enough. Rashford is in the same bracket as those two - £100m-£150m players - he is every bit as good as those two and can be in the future because he is improving every season. He broke in under Louis van Gaal and set the world on fire, in his second season under Jose Mourinho everyone thought he wouldn't play but he did in all the big games. Now he is adding goals to his game and he can be absolutely world class."
Former England and Manchester United defender Phil Neville speaks with Sky Sports about Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford's qualities
"It's a dream come true that I've had since I was a child. It was an important evening for me and my father. I have not left school, but this year I’ll have a private tutor to help me after my morning training sessions. My father has been following my career since I was little and it’s wonderful that he was so moved. He always took me to training, even in the cold and rain. He’s the one who keeps me on the right path in football, while my mother makes sure I study at school."
Sixteen-year-old Genoa forward Pietro Pellegri tells Mediaset about his relationship with his father, Marco, who was seen crying on the sidelines after seeing his son score in their 3-2 defeat by Lazio
Former England full-back Alex Scott gives her reaction to The Best FIFA Women's Player finalists announcement
"We’re the big shark and when teams swim up alongside us we gobble them up."
Manchester City left-back Benjamin Mendy describes his new club to the Telegraph
"The race is on. When Lewy moves ahead, I am used to catching him up. It's enough for me to overtake him shortly before the season finishes."
Borussia Dortmund forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang tells Bild that he's relishing the prospect of challenging Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski to be the Bundesliga's top goalscorer
"When I met my wife, I felt as though I really had something to play for, and my career went to another level after that. We had a lot of special years in Seville. In 2013, I was named the first foreign captain of the club since Maradona. That was such a special honor for me, especially because of how much the club meant to my wife’s grandfather."
Barcelona and Croatia midfielder Ivan Rakitic writes in The Players' Tribune about how he met his wife Raquel during his time playing for Sevilla
"The worst thing for me is seeing the other players. I see them on the training field, when they are in the locker room, when they go up to the meeting before training. I see how they work in the gym, and I am not able to do the same. You know that you are not able to be a full part of the group. That is the most difficult thing: to feel that you are useless, not worth as much as before, not worth as much as the others. To go to that point, and then do the same the next day, and the next day again, and again and again. That is bad for the brain. Rehab is always up and down for the mind and for the body. And there have been points where my mind has said: ‘O.K. I have to go now.'"
Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan speaks with The New York Times about the arduous ten-month journey of recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee
Jarrow Roofing captain Daryll Donnelly is substituted during a match to be with his girlfriend Jasmine as she went into labour