Football Mastery Quotes

It's only natural to want to select your best players and there is no doubt for me that Paul Scholes is still in a class of his own. He's almost untouchable in what he does. I never tire of watching him play.

I feel like I've got a lot of football things I need to work on to have that success that I want to have in this league.

I always said I wanted to become a master of my game, like Bruce Lee. I mastered my art of football, because that's what it truly is when you understand it.

I've been playing football for a while, but Guardiola really made me a better player. I was 29 when I started working with him, so I wasn't very young, but if you see the steps I made thanks to him, it shows you what he is capable of doing. Guardiola didn't just put me on the flanks but in other positions as well.

We all feel that hunger in football. With Cruyff, it was different. He deepened and changed the hunger so you became conscious of why you are getting better.

For skills and tricks, Ronaldinho was the best player I've played with.

Fella’s a genius. Best ever by a distance in my life time. Never really saw Pele… Souness, Gullit, Venables and now Rooney agree Messi is the best they have seen. He plays a game with which we are not familiar.

When fans showed up at Candlestick, there was a great sense of anticipation that they would watch not only winning football, but also artistry. Our offense was that sublime.

I've seen the player who will inherit my place in Argentinian football and his name is Messi... He's a leader and is offering classes in beautiful football.

Technique is not being able to juggle a ball 1000 times. Anyone can do that by practicing. Then you can work in the circus. Technique is passing the ball with one touch, with the right speed, at the right foot of your team mate.

I've always said that there will never be an area that I know better than football.

Pele was the most complete player I've ever seen.

It is wonderful... Steve and Dan took professional football to a whole different level with the way they played the game. The fact that Steve is going in with Dan is very special.

Obviously, training at Barcelona is a fantastic experience. You train alongside players like Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta, who are clearly some of the best players in the world.

For me, Messi is the greatest player in history, the greatest player I've ever seen.

Every year, Messi seems to reach his limit, but he always ends up exceeding that. He is the best.

From someone who has won five Ballons d'Or you can learn a lot.

By the time I was 10 years old, my entire life was football. Training, reading, watching, even playing football on PlayStation. I was totally focused on it. I especially loved the creative players - the maestros.

Arsene Wenger's mentality has been to bring together footballers who bring happiness in our sport, the type of players I like to watch. I've followed him since he was in Japan, and he always was a guardian of the art of football - football with happiness and football played well.

How marvellous it is to enjoy Messi. No one can touch his numbers, and it is impossible for anyone to do what he has done apart from him.

Messi is the best. I have not seen or will ever see a player like Lionel Messi.

Seedorf is doing well, and I am happy for him. I hope he stays at Milan so that he can prove how much he really understands about football.

I can't believe anyone can have played the game of football as well as Messi.

The greatest footballers take the sport into the world of art, of performance.