Football is a team sport and not an individual sport. We win as a team, and every individual is better if we are part of the team.
Fernando Torres
The things you cannot change you can't waste your time on.
A player wants to be remembered for what he has won, for the medals, for what he has given his club.
My son is a Liverpool fan, and he was already kicking a ball before he was one. He was born in the football city; he had no choice.
English football has an enormous following across the world, not just because of the players but because of its history, its tradition, the excitement, the capacity crowds.
I want to thank my two English clubs: Liverpool for bringing me to the Premier League and Chelsea for the trophies I won.
I was not a Liverpool fan or a Chelsea fan in Madrid. I was an Atletico fan. I still am. Maybe they're the only badge I will kiss.
Steven Gerrard is the best player I have played with throughout my career; therefore, my ideal player would be very like him.
I am a professional, and I always fulfil my deals.
I can be very shy. I really like to stay at home with my people because I'm really shy. My wife is as well; we're both really shy.
My father worked every day; my brother and sister had to travel many hours to study, so Atletico were for people like us.
You have to win with the team and for the team.
Big clubs in Europe always go through difficult spells where it appears as though there is no light at the end of the tunnel. But because they are big clubs, they always come back, and they do so with a vengeance.
The worst part about not playing is when you think that you are ready to do it. You try to get more minutes, taking the chances, but you end up in a situation where things have not gone well for you for weeks - or for years. That is like swimming wet clothes.
If we win the Champions League, everyone is a better, more recognised player, but if you win an individual award and nothing with your team, it means nothing.
Domestic titles are very important, but to win the Champions League, you are saying, 'We are the best team in Europe.'
I'm a quiet guy, but on the pitch, it's different. You have to do everything you can to win and help your teammates.
I am a big fan of the Gallagher brothers. At Liverpool, they came a few times; they are friends of Steven Gerrard. It was nice to meet them. When I was in Spain, I couldn't speak English, so I couldn't understand the lyrics. When I came to England, I started studying music and trying to understand what my favourite songs said.
If the manager thinks there is another player better than you, he is going to play, and this is the way. You have to try to improve and keep fighting and try to change the manager's mind.
When I played against Chelsea, there was always a big motivation because it was a special game; it was always one of the biggest games of the season. This is one of the reasons why I wanted to join Chelsea: because I want to be part of this kind of team.
Ronaldo is different from Messi. He is very impressive down the wings.
I was always fighting with everyone when I was a kid. I was playing with people two or three years older than me, and I had to survive. So I love the physical game, the contact. And I don't know why, but I think football is like this. It is not just touching the ball and stringing together 50 pretty passes consecutively.
I was captain in Atletico at 19, playing in the same team as Demetrio Albertini, who won three Champions Leagues, and Sergi Barjuan from Barcelona, who had won everything, and they were 32, 33. I was a kid as captain, so I wasn't the real captain, just a kid learning from them.
At Liverpool, winning is customary.
For me, Real Madrid are just like any other club, like Barcelona, Milan, Bayern Munich, or Inter. Just another big club.
It's not easy to come somewhere new and have to find your place. You might feel someone doesn't like you, or you might need to find new friends. It's not easy, and I don't like this kind of thing. It's not easy, so you want to protect the players who are alone.
The Premier League is very difficult football and very different to when you play in Europe, but the player has to have experience to adapt, and this is the key point.
I didn't realise how my life was changing. When I was 17, 18, 20, I didn't realise how big football was and everything around football. How many people live for football and love football. I was a professional, but I was a supporter.
When I retire, the only thing that concerns me is that no one can say that I was a bad team-mate or disrespectful or self-important.
You have to prove yourself every day. You have to live for today.
Everything I have done in my career I have done from my values and doing things the way I like to do. So winning doesn't matter the world for me.
I want to say thanks to the Chelsea fans because I have seen them very, very happy with me for joining Chelsea.
Nobody has ever gifted me anything.
Liverpool is a massive club in reputation, but as soon as I came here, it felt like Atletico to me. It is a working city, an honest city. The people work all week, and on Saturday they want to go to Anfield and watch the best team in the world.
After winning the European Championship with Spain, I know exactly how it feels to win a major trophy, and I know that, if we can win at Liverpool, it will feel the same or even better than it did with Spain.
The Premier League is tough because, as soon as you lose a couple of games, you're out of the race for the league.
I learnt that if we won, it didn't matter that I hadn't played. I had to keep working.
The Champions League is a big ambition, and all the footballers want to play in it; it is a very important competition.
You can have a contract that is better than your friends, but no player looks back and says, 'I won more money.'
Chelsea gave me what I was looking for when I left Liverpool trophies. I'll always see it as a success.
I have good memories and bad memories of games against Chelsea. All the goals are good memories because all of them are special.
In your life, you go through a difficult situation or a very good situation, and you have different moods, but you learn things from your experiences.
Chelsea gave me all the trophies I have as a football player. I saw my kids growing up in London.
When young players become one of the best in the world, everyone wants to sign them.
I just do not see myself playing for Madrid. They do not attract me, especially because of my past with Atletico.
As a kid, I never once dreamt of playing for Liverpool.
Fitness is important, but the most important thing is how you adapt and the way you feel physically. To adapt to a new position. To try to change your game.
Liverpool is a fundamental part of my life. They don't remember me that way, but time will change that. I could not have chosen a better place to go when I left Atletico.
Madrid is not as big as London, but it is true when you are coming from a big city like Madrid, nothing is going to surprise you, and I am very happy to move to a city like London. It is a big city, and you can do everything you want with the respect that the English people always have.
I remember when I first came to Liverpool, Pepe Reina helped with everything, and he made it easy for me. When I was Atletico Madrid captain, I tried to help everyone. These are the basics in football: you need to create an atmosphere and try to create a group of friends. It's not easy, and it doesn't always happen, but you have to try.
