Shaquille O'Neal Quotes

There were butterflies, otherwise, you're not really ready to play. The locker room, I remember, was quiet and we were very focused on playing that game.

Football is football and talent is talent. But the mindset of your team makes all the difference.

Just because I keep getting close and don't win these Majors, I must not panic.

Being a footballer was about analysing performance, never being satisfied, seeing what lessons you can learn and who you can learn from.

We must take on each match as best we can and try to recover from each as quickly as possible.

As a footballer, you just have to try to learn what you've done bad and what I could do good.

On the pitch, I argue, I shout, I talk rubbish and generally do anything I can to get ahead.

On the field, you have to be aggressive; you're thinking how to get the better of a situation. It's not that I don't laugh on the field. In fact, I think it's very important to laugh, especially when you are angry and aggressive, to just take the tension away, make the moment go away.

In football, I need full concentration even though I really enjoy it.

Ninety percent of hockey is mental and the other half is physical.

I don't know anything that builds the will to win better than competitive sports.

I think I've always had a decent perspective on wins and losses on the tennis court.

If you got anything to you at all as an athlete and a competitor, you don't care what the circumstances are. You still got competition.

It will be a hard game if you think about winning a championship. We need to think about our own game at the moment and focus on getting good results especially over the Christmas period.

The only pressure I feel is how I can contribute to help my team win the match. Of course, there is always the pressure to score, but then doesn't it eventually help your team win? Frankly, I don't let these things affect me.

You can teach all the other stuff, you know. You can teach shooting the ball, you can teach having a good touch... passing and whatnot, but when you get out there on the field, it's just a mindset you need to go into the game with.

Every player feels differently about playing football. We are all different people. I am the type who wants to win all the time. I hate to lose.

Number four, we're going to play like winners, play the game the way it's meant to be played. Don't get full of yourself if something good happens. Don't get too depressed when something bad happens.

It is difficult to be yourself on court, as you become very involved in the match and very focused.

You try to say every week that you're facing a faceless opponent. No matter who it is, you want to have the same mindset, no matter what type of game it is - first game of the season, last game of the season.

When you're on court, you just want to win. You're a competitor.

My concentration with players is the next match, focus only to work for the next match and how we can win.

I just come to training, work hard, go home, prepare for the game, then play.

For me, happy footballers play the best football.

I meet athletes from different backgrounds and see they share the same mentality and process as other athletes in other sports.