Lothar Matthaus Quotes

Wherever I go and whoever I go play for, I'm a football player. I enjoy playing football, I enjoy the game, I enjoy being a teammate.

It is an honour and a pleasure to be able to play with Leo Messi. I want to learn. He is the best player in the world and in history. I am delighted to be able to share costumes. I want to learn a lot from him on and off the field.

The key thing with any football player is, what can he do when he gets on the field.

I look at athletes in all sports and try to picture what kind of football player they'd be, what position they'd play and so on.

It actually took me a year to learn how to play running back - to understand what they were doing defensively and then what our guys were doing every single play.

Nobody I ever broke bread with - and I see players all the time - talked about using their head running the football. I've seen Barry Sanders and Eric Dickerson and Marcus Allen and Franco Harris, and we've all been together - we were all together at the Super Bowl - and no one talked about using their head.

I was a good football player, and I had a chance to play with some great players.

I've played a lot of football in my life. I know the tempo and speed of the game.

There's different types of strikers: Harry Kane is a wonderful finisher, Jamie Vardy has great pace and has come onto the scene exceptionally well and is playing consistently, and Wayne Rooney is a player I have admired during all of his career.

A lot of sprinters aren't football players. I'm a football player. That's the difference between me and a sprinter. My knowledge of the game. I'm totally different than any other track guy.

I'm absolutely enjoying the Premier League, as you can imagine. I knew it was going to be tough. It's the best league in the world and you are up against players who have been in it for years so they know it inside out.

I had the good luck to have the experience of training with fantastic football players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Ozil, Modric, and I also played for Real Madrid B. That was a fantastic experience because it was my first international experience as a football player and taught me a lot as a football player.

It's great to see Zizou doing so well. He was a very quiet team-mate, he didn't speak much, but he was a phenomenon on the pitch and he was learning all the time. We didn't know he was going to be a coach but he always had the qualities for it.

I don't put nothing past no man who ever played the game of football.

Some teams can't or don't pass the ball. What are you playing for? What's the point? That's not football. Combine, pass, play. That's football - for me, at least.

I'm really good at football.

The midfield is the heartbeat of a football team, it's the centre of the action, so you can't just do one thing.

I don't like to talk about myself. I don't want to talk about what I do, what I think I do. The position I play on the pitch, I am expected - and I expect - to create chances for my team-mates and score goals.

Football is not an exact science, but it is about chemistry: Ronaldo and Mandzukic, when they are together, have an excellent understanding.

Attacking is the tough part in football; defending is relatively easy.

Not many people become manager of Manchester United. Sir Alex had it for a long, long time, then a few have come along since to try to emulate him and make them the champions again.

You hear all these people saying, 'Oh, Pep, what a good manager he is.' Forget about it. Cruyff was the best, by far.

At the end of the day, I'm a good defensive football coach.

For me to be able to play football was a gift.

In football, you cannot only play because of your quality and talent. Defence is a must.