Erik Lamela Quotes

In football, you can always maim a person if you wanted to.

I went for a tackle with Radamel Falcao against Colombia, and he just dropped to the floor. I said to him 'Just get up!'

It's the most violent sport there is.

On any play where there's a scramble of 22 men, blindside hits and unprotected hits on knees occur.

I'm always a player who has taken fairly rough treatment, to be honest. I think my time in Scotland typified that because I think there was one game where I set a record for being fouled ten or 11 times in a game.

I have heard what has been said, but most of the time, I recover the ball without making a foul.

Pro football is like nuclear warfare. There are no winners, only survivors.

I've seen elbows that broke eye sockets. I've seen a German goalkeeper just level a French guy. His teammates thought he was dead lying on the ground. This was in 1982 at my first World Cup. But a bite is outside any kind of contact collision: dirty foul play. A bite is a bite.

I don't know how people box for a living. I don't know how they can just hurt people for a living and be OK with it.

Actually punching is a mistake; a heavy hitter will cut you with one shot.

I've been slashed, speared, elbowed, board-checked, butt-ended, and hit on the head as much as anyone. I just like to keep the ledger balanced.

There is no question that in the '50s and '60s, black players got thrown at more. That's not a negative comment. It may come out that way, but that's the way it was. Hitting another player was part of the game; hitting a player in the head is not.

I'm one of those guys: I'm out there trying to punch you out and to hurt you, but as soon as I'm done, hopefully there's nothing wrong with you; I'm hoping that you're okay.

Look at rugby, the national sport, you have guys weighing 130kg, 140kg, who can run like sprinters full clip into each other causing brain damage constantly on that field.

I'm looking forward to getting out there and twisting limbs off and breaking bodies.

If you watch me play, you'll see how often I get kicked. I don't go off the pitch and cut myself to act like I've been kicked.

Malice is part of football, I wouldn't call it illegitimate.

If someone makes contact with you, it is a foul, and you are going to go down.

Teams are always hitting me in the gut, trying to grab me when I jump and stuff like that. But I expect it.

I like to bump people, to feel me getting into somebody's jersey. I'm just different. I like contact, like physical play, like pushing and holding. But I'm not dirty.

In soccer, you don't want to see anybody get hurt.

Ask a receiver, can we take his gloves off because he's catching the ball too well? Nobody is going to be overly happy about that.

If you don't like to be hit, you're in the wrong sport.

There's shouting, there's blood, there's boogers, there's a whole thing. I mean, there's spitting, there's fighting, there's ripped jerseys. There's someone grabbing someone's throat. I mean, it's why you have football.

I don't have any problem with tackles or duels, but I react when I notice that someone is only trying to kick me out of the game. But I never have the intention to hurt anyone. Everything is forgotten again a minute later.