Michael Essien Quotes

Like any footballer, I love to play. I love to feel important. I love to enjoy the game.

I want to be playing and enjoying my football.

You play football for a reason... I am passionate about it.

I like to play football, and of course I like to play for Tottenham, but I try to enjoy every game because that's the most important thing, to have fun on the pitch, and then you can play good.

You have to know what club you are playing for, or you just play for yourself. Every time I put on a Liverpool shirt, I know it is more than just a football game.

It was about being wanted, it was about winning, and it was about my passion for the game. I just loved it. I absolutely loved to compete and to step out onto that football field with my teammates.

I don't wish that I was playing football. I love baseball, and the way I play is like it's my last day ever playing it. I do like football, but you've got to respect that it's not like baseball.

I'm going to go out and try to be the best player I can be and help the Chicago Bears win.

When baseball is no longer fun, it's no longer a game.

You know, I don't only play for the record books.

I'm getting excited before every single game. The trophy at the end is less important than the process itself.

Football helped me. I was in love with this sport.

I love this game. When I step on the court I'm going to compete. That's one of the reasons I work hard every day.

To me, it's just another game of football - 11 players, a grass pitch. Regardless what shirt I have on, it's important you win the game, and I'm competitive as anyone, and I want to win every game, whether it's a Sunday league game, a five-a-side tournament, or a World Cup qualifier.

Football is to be enjoyed and I've enjoyed my life in football for many years, it's the pinnacle of my career and I want to enjoy it the most.

In Chicago, growing up there, that's how we played. You play for something more than just yourself. You play to win, and that's all that really matters.

I'm not a player any more, I'm a fan, and I want to see somebody who wants to win and wants to fight.

All I really have in my life is my family and football. That's about it.

We all say we enjoy playing rugby, but most guys don't really show it - and some guys I don't think actually enjoy it. So every time I arrive in the morning, I've always got a smile on my face. Once I lose that enjoyment, I will stop playing.

I play for the love of football, not for the money.

This is what playing football is all about - trying to reach finals and trying to lift trophies.

I play the game because I love the game.

Until the moment I stop playing football, I want to win more titles.

What I like is to bring the best team for the fans, and if we have that then we need to perform and we need success, but that is what I like and what I have had all my life in football.

It's a business. Everybody treats it like a business. You love playing football, you love being around the locker room, and that's really the most important thing for me.