Thiago Alcantara Quotes

I am a firm believer that if you score one goal the other team have to score two to win.

You have to win on the ball.

For me, possession is to keep the ball while you are waiting for the possibility to penetrate. Every pass is for a reason.

The No. 1 thing is you want to be able to win the game, and we're going to do whatever we have to do to win the game.

25 years later, you know, I haven't really put too much emphasis on any kind of individual goal, other than trying to win any particular night, trying to find a way to do that.

In '82 Brazil showed that you can't win the World Cup without a solid defense.

You never lose a game if the opponent doesn't score.

The team that is going to win is the one that does its homework the best by studying its opponents.

Whatever the offense dictates to allow me doing what I or this offense needs to do to win games, I'm going to do it.

In training when I'm receiving the ball I always know where I want to go. At the end of the day it's just soccer.

You can talk about systems until you're blue in the face but that's secondary - if you're closing down, if you're first to the ball, it doesn't really matter what system you've got.

To be successful you have to find a good balance between offence and defence, to work without the ball, but our main tactic is to work with the ball, to be in possession.

For me, the best defender I played against was Carles Puyol. He was my teammate, too, but my rival many times. Also, Roberto Ayala, the Argentinian centerback.

One of the things that makes the best teams in the world the best is the fact that, across midfield and up top, they are capable of hurting you.

In the end, it's like that: The more I possess the ball, the more dominant we play, and the more often we win.

That's basically what you're going out trying to do every night - help the team win.

I think winning games is my biggest asset, knowing how to win.

We need the ball even to defend; that's our objective: having the ball and having it as far as possible from our goal as possible.

Scouting is important. You just want to know whom you are playing against and how to play them well within the team's defense.

When I go out there, I try to do everything I can to win. That doesn't mean I have to score more than the other team; it may mean stopping the other team.

If you play bad, you can win the games, but you have to play good and get the three points.

We're here to win football games, so whatever that means, whatever that takes, that's what we're going to do.

You will never run more than the ball. The players that don't lose the ball are the most important in the team, and good players decide the game.

It's about winning the ball, making this step or making the right decision. If you make all of these steps then wins, a final position in the table will come on its own.

Our goal is to outplay the other team's defense every game - it doesn't matter who we're playing.