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Football is more disputed in England than it is in Italy. Every match is a very hard match because the referee doesn't blow his whistle as much as in Italy, and every team plays against each other like it is a final.

Football is more disputed in England than it is in Italy. Every match is a very hard match because the referee doesn't blow his whistle as much as in Italy, and every team plays against each other like it is a final. I enjoy it more in England because you have to think quicker. The pace of the game is faster, so you don't have much time to think.

Basketball players want contact to get a foul called. Slaps on the wrist and bumps on the shoulder are big time to them, and they don't like that. In football, you get that all the time. The whole mental makeup is different.

Sometimes English football takes pride in having the lowest yellow-card count in Europe, but of course it will have if you can take someone's leg off and still not be booked.

People talk about the speed of the English game, but in Italy, referees blow their whistles very often, so you cannot build up speed. In England, referees wave play on, and so it becomes faster.

People say the English players don't come to Italy because they look down on Serie A, but that's just not true.

Looking from the outside at English football, at Spanish football, it's more interesting, and they have the champions and the celebrities that they want to see. But with the passion that Italians have for football, the pride that they have, I don't think the game will stay that way.

In my day, defenders played you with two hands and an elbow. You're not getting by a guy, especially if he has an elbow and a hand on you and is a strong defensive player.

English football is different: always on the attack. Although one thing is clear. The best football is the Italian.

Premier League players are a lot cleverer, but they don't like being roughed up. They're not used to that.

In Germany, you can play aggressively, but the referee will always blow his whistle, but in England, that's not the case. That's better for me.

English Premier League is much harder and quicker, and also, the referees are totally different because in England, they don't whistle after every small contact like in Germany.

In Italy, you get three or four goals, you go slow, you stop.

In England, every game is like a derby, because it's physical.

It's aggressive, and I like the way Arsenal play football. It's not like other countries, but it's very, very nice here.

I've watched quite a few matches to understand English football.

I've done it before, and I might do it whenever we need to as a big guy... I'll take it. A hard foul is part of the game, which is good.

Hard fouls are a part of playoff basketball, and I think that's how basketball should be. I don't take those fouls personally.

I never played any games like this in Germany, not when you have to fight for 90 minutes. But if I want to be successful in England, I have to get used to it.

We can be tackled but referees are there to police dangerous challenges. Forwards are protected by the laws of the game and the way it's played, while defenders and midfielders have to throw themselves about a bit more.

I think growing up in England strikers are hungry to just get goals. We have a mean streak in us. We like to get goals.

I think Sassuolo are a serious club who play great football, keeping the ball, and are almost Spanish in style.

Here the football is more physically strong. The Spanish are more technical. In Italy more tactical. In England... you have to run. We don't fear the tackles, because the people like this.

I always say the Premier League is the best in the world, and I still feel it is an honour to be playing here, but I think English football suits my game. Football is more physical here; the ref is not whistling every foul.

Before I came to Italy to play for Milan in 2007, I saw in the papers that my name was mentioned in connection with some English clubs.