Rafael Benitez Quotes

Every league has its own culture, its own identity, and its own type of football. It's very physical in England, but technical skill comes to the fore in Spain, where everybody wants to play beautiful football. The standards are very high in Germany, too; the teams are physically strong, very disciplined, and very well organised.

The World Cup is a very important way to measure the good players, and the great ones. It is a test of a great player.

I always had a concept of watching great players, great goalkeepers.

I am not a magician of football.

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.

There are a lot of good players all over the world.

In the English league, there are great players everywhere. It's impressive.

I like watching Spanish and Italian games and looking at how they play compared to us.

There is a part of football I would describe as 'serious' and one part I would describe as more 'playful,' i.e. more technical.

A backheel is good if it works, not if it disrespects the opponents.

All players, whether they're Spanish, French, English, Welsh, want to play football. To play.

My best position is in the middle, and if I am asked to play there, I can do it.

When I'm in the ring with somebody like Puma, it really forces me to level up and rise to the top of my game. It's sometimes just face-melting, the kind of stuff that he can do.

I have played football since I was five years old. This is my core skill and it will always remain so.

I want to challenge myself and test myself against the best players in the world, and there are not many people better than the likes of Ronaldo.

David Beckham is always seen as the thickest man on the planet, too daft to complete a jigsaw puzzle. But then you watch old footage of him playing and every time he plays a ball across the field, he's intuitively working out the trajectory of the ball.

I think polo players are at their best in their 30s. You've got the talent and the experience. You play with your head - you learn to lose and how to win.

I only try to play good soccer.

Football was easy because I knew what I was doing, and it was in my control.

It's always good for a player to be on the pitch.

I really enjoy being out on the court and going through the grind and battling. That's something a video game can't do for you.

I like many things in English football - everyone lives and breathes it here. Of course, that doesn't mean I don't like Spanish football.

Footballers are super-intelligent and there is only one football language: to win, to win, to win.

I want to be regarded as a world-class midfielder.

Italian football's different to Spanish and German, but it's only different and not inferior.