"It's a gift. I haven’t seen any other player, at least during my career, who plays like Messi does. For me that makes him the best footballer in the world."

"The best striker I have ever faced? Lionel Messi. It has always been Messi."

"The best player ever? Lionel Messi."

"This award says I’m the best player in the world, but I’m not even the best player at Barcelona."

"I have seen the player who will inherit my place in Argentine football and his name is Messi. Messi is a genius and he can become an even better player. His potential is limitless and I think he’s got everything it takes to become Argentina’s greatest player."

"The other day I saw one of his games. He was running with the ball at a hundred percent full speed, I don’t know how many touches he took, maybe five or six, but the ball was glued to his foot. It’s practically impossible."

"Nobody was so wonderful at 19 years, neither Pele nor Maradona."

"Messi is out of this planet, I would say he is so far ahead of the rest of the players playing right now and I would say historically as well. There are not words to describe him."

"Once they said they can only stop me with a pistol, but today you need a machine gun to stop him."

"I love to see T-shirts or flags with Che Guevara, Diego [Maradona] and Argentina anywhere in the world. It gives me a beautiful feeling."

"I’m never satisfied. I always push my limits and try to get better every day""

"Being a dad changes everything for the better and I’m really enjoying it."

"Barcelona gave me everything, they took a chance on me when nobody else would. I never have any desire to play for anybody else, I will be here for as long as they want me."

"I will never go to trial against Barça because it is the club that I love, which has given me everything since I arrived here. It's the club of my life, I made my life here. Messi interview with Goal, announced he remains at Barca - NAIJANEWS247 September 4, 2020."

"I never set out to be the best player in history. I think I'm just another footballer. On the pitch we are all the same and when the game starts I always try to improve myself. My intention is that when I retire, I will be remembered for being a good person."

"In football as in watchmaking, talent and elegance mean nothing without rigour and precision""

"You have to keep working hard and playing well because people will start to forget what you have done before if you don’t""

"Every year I try to grow as a player and not get stuck in a rut. I try to improve my game in every way possible. But that trait is not something I've worked on, it's part of me""

"You cannot allow your desire to be a winner to be diminished by achieving success before and I believe there is room for improvement in every sportsman""

"I always want more. Whether it’s a goal, or winning a game, I always want to improve.""

"My ambition is always to get better and better""

"Sometimes you have to accept you can't win all the time""

"I never think about the play or visualize anything. I do what comes to me at that moment. Instinct. It has always been that way""

"The best decisions aren’t made with your mind, but with your instinct""

"Allow yourselves to dream and then chase after those dreams. That will always require effort and sacrifice, but be persistent!”"

"You have to fight to reach your dream. You have to sacrifice and work hard for it""

"I have fun like a child in the street. When the day comes when I'm not enjoying it, I will leave football""

"I've always really just liked football, and I've always devoted a lot of time to it. When I was a kid, my friends would call me to go out with them, but I would stay home because I had practice the next day""

"I start early, and I stay late, day after day, year after year, it took me 17 years and 114 days to become an overnight success""

"I'm lucky to be part of a team who help to make me look good, and they deserve as much of the credit for my success as I do for the hard work we have all put in on the training ground""

"In the semi-final Messi showed he's the top man. He is only 20 as well, imagine how good he will be in the next 10 years. I'd love to play alongside him."

"I'm not sure he is human."

"To me, Messi is the greatest player in the world right now. He has got a fantastic vision of the game, and what he can do technically - it's just crazy. The things he can do with the ball - and at pace and top speed - is just amazing. What decides it for me is not his many goals, although his goal account is impressive, but the thing is that he can do so much for his team. What counts is the total amount of his many, many qualities. He is just the greatest."

"Although he may not be human, it's good that Messi still thinks he is."

"Messi is God, as a person and even more as a player."

"There is no doubt, you're from another galaxy. Thanks Leo."

"Messi is a joke. For me, the best ever."

"Leo is from another planet. What makes him the best is that other great players have had ups and downs, like Maradona. He wasn’t half of what Leo is at Barça. Messi has had so many good years in his career that he deserves to be considered the best ever."

"Messi does not need his right foot. He only uses the left and he's still the best in the world! Imagine if he also used his right foot ... Then we would have serious problems!"

"It’s something for me that I can tell my kids that I’ve played against Messi when we watch him on television. For me he’s got everything. He is magical to watch. When I finish and look back, and he will still be going strong, I will be able to say to myself I tested myself against the best. And quite clearly, for me, he is the best ever. He’s a great individual player but a great person as well and a credit to football."

"I am not crazy enough to compare myself with Messi because he is the best there ever was and the best there will ever be."

"Messi is the best, for me, Messi is God, he is the best and always will be – for what he has given the team and for how much he has made me enjoy being in the same team as him."

"It's the efficiency that made the difference. Messi is fantastic, the best player ever."

"Messi is God – you see him on the pitch and he is spectacular."

"Messi is unbelievable. It is great to get the chance to play against the best in the world. It doesn't really need repeating: he is a fantastic player."

"He's the best of all time."

"Everything. But everything I did, I did for football, to achieve my dream""