"He's out of order, disconnected with reality and disrespectful. When you give success to stupid people, it makes them more stupid sometimes and not more intelligent."

"Any man who concentrates his energies totally on one passion is, by definition, someone who hurts the people close to him."

"No matter how much money you earn, you can only eat three meals a day and sleep in one bed."

"As a non-Arsenal player I would say Ryan Giggs is my Premier League player of the decade because he has combined style with winning. Also I feel sorry he could never attend the World Cup, somewhere where people get a lot of compliments when they do well."

"He's like a PlayStation. I think he can take advantage of every mistake you make. Barcelona are a very good side but of course they have Messi who can make the difference at any moment in the game. He is very young but he can achieve a lot. There are not many players who can score four goals like he did. He has six or seven great years ahead of him and he can become unbelievable."

"Everybody has a different opinion in this league and nobody is a prophet. I personally don’t know who will win the league. I managed 1,600 games so, if Nani knows, he must be 1,600 times more intelligent than I am."

"You ask me: 'Was he a fair player?' I say: 'No, I'm sorry, for me he was not a fair player.' I just think I respect him highly as a quality player. I did not like some things he did on the football pitch and I have the right to say that. It's not because you are older, suddenly, that you are a saint."

"I really enjoy watching Zinedine Zidane. His elegance of movement on the pitch and his skills are uncanny. Apart from being an impressive player, he is also very humble and very likeable as a person. A great man."

"Zidane is probably the best player there has been in the past 20 years … France have recovered the best Zidane and they have progressively grown throughout this tournament."

"The greatest player of the past 20 years? It has to be Zidane. He had everything. You never needed to tell him anything as he did it all by himself and knew what was expected."

"Zidane has won that award because of what he has done on the pitch - he was the best … I have always admired Zidane … In fact I have one of his shirts in my closet - we exchanged our shirts after a Juventus v Perugia game."

"Nobody knows if Zidane is an angel or demon. He smiles like Saint Teresa and grimaces like a serial killer."

"If Zizou kept his temper, he would not be the genius that he is"

"I think it was really a difficult situation for him. His career was ending in 10 minutes and I think trying to come to terms with that and at the same time win a World Cup was . . . it would be just so difficult emotionally and he was probably on the edge without being provoked and then to be provoked probably was just too much for him. I can completely understand how difficult that would be. I think he probably faced some shame, embarrassment, disappointment; but I also think he feels like the guy made some awful remarks and his action was warranted. I don't think he wants the kids to see that, but I also don't think he regrets it. It's tough -- he's one of the top three players to play the game. He's already won the European Cup, the World Cup and I think everyone, his teammates included, idolize him in his country, so I think he'll be quickly forgiven."

"He thinks in one second and does it the next. He is a special player, one who is original and exceptional. He creates space where there is none. Only the very best players can do that. No matter where he gets the ball or how it comes to him, Zidane can get out of trouble. His imagination and his technique are amazing."

"In France, everybody realized that God exists, and that he is back in the French international team. God is back, there is little left to say."

"You look at Zidane and think 'I've never seen a player quite like that'. Diego Maradona was a great player. Johan Cruyff was a great player. They were different - but with similarities. What sets Zidane apart is the way he manipulates a football, buying himself space that isn't there. Add his vision and it makes him very special."

"What he could do with a football is a dream for most of us."

"Zidane was from another planet. When Zidane stepped onto the pitch, the 10 other guys just got suddenly better. It is that simple."

"I would give up five players to have Zidane in my squad."

"He is the best player I've seen... Playing alongside him was a crazy thing! Supporters arrived earlier at the Bernabeu just to see him warm-up."

"Technically, I think he is the king of what's fundamental in the game - control and passing. I don't think anyone can match him when it comes to controlling or receiving the ball."

"Zidane is unique. The ball flows with him. He is more like a dancer than a football player."

"Zidane is one of the greatest players in history, a truly magnificent player."

"He dominates the ball, he is a walking spectacle and he plays as if he had silk gloves on each foot. He reminds me a bit of myself, although I was a bit quicker. He makes it worthwhile going to the stadium -- he's one of the best I have ever seen."

"Zidane is the master. Over the past 10 years, there's been no-one like him, he has been the best player in the world."

"It's hard to explain but I have a need to play intensely every day, to fight every match hard. And this desire never to stop fighting is something else I learnt in the place where I grew up."

"I was lucky to come from a difficult area. It teaches you not just about football but also life. There were lots of kids from different races and poor families. People had to struggle to get through the day. Music was important. Football was the easy part."

"It was my father who taught us that an immigrant must work twice as hard as anybody else, that he must never give up."

"Sometimes I don't know what takes me over during a game. Sometimes I just feel I have moved to a different place and I can make the pass, score the goal or go past my marker at will."

"You can be ruthless by playing football and one-touch football. Sometimes we get confused between desire and playing football. There is a fine line and sometimes we could pass the ball to each other a bit better. Football is a team effort and sometimes when you're not playing well together you need to go back to basics and play as a team."

"At times we forget that football is a team effort, a team game and not a solo show game. Sometimes we just don't respect the game. I love my game, but sometimes you need to please the people around you also, and pass the ball to them. At times during games we forget about team-mates in better positions while we try and force our way in, rather than pass to players in better positions around the box. That is something I'm thinking about more."

"Next time I'll learn to dive maybe, but I'm not a woman."

"There's nothing I'm scared of in football."

"I eat football, I sleep football, I breathe football. I'm not mad, I'm just passionate."

"It's not about me, it's about how I can help my team to achieve more. And I do that through scoring goals."

"You can never have enough trophies. If there were ten to be won a year I'd want to win them all! That's not being greedy, it's just a natural thing."

"Ronaldinho is a special player, but Thierry Henry is probably technically the most gifted footballer ever to play the beautiful game."

"When it's his day, Thierry can score a hat-trick with ease. He's amazing."

"He can become the best player in the Premiership."

"Henry is a beautiful player and has got complete technique, I adore watching him. I respect him very much as a man and as a footballer. He reminds me of myself."

"With Thierry Henry so many asked for his shirt that the club threatened to start making him pay for ones he gave away!"

"And then there is the magnificent Thierry Henry - someone who has blistering pace and is unbelievable when he is finishing at his best."

"I take the ball, I go wide, I cross, I shoot, but when the moment beckons, I am ready to make the difference."

"Sometimes in football you have to score goals."

"I would love this place to be my garden."

"I'm not a machine."

"Being seen as the best striker in Europe doesn't spur me on—it's helping my team to success. That's my only aim.{{cite web"

"He controlled the ball on his chest, step on it, look, see if someone was in the stands, take a coffee, turn, call his family, no one was answering, left a message, and then thought "Oh, I might cross the ball." He crossed it and they scored."

"You don’t let a guy put his hand on your chest, and put his foot on the ball and look into your eyes and tell you a bedtime story. No. sorry."