I live in Budapest and saw how the football helped the Hungarian people to be happy.
Lothar Matthaus
I was certainly no Maradona. I was a very fast player. When I saw a space, I used it. When I went past somebody, he didn't catch up with me again. I was a player who came with a run-up. What Maradona could see in a small space, I saw over long distances.
Maradona, yes! Diego was very fast, with good skills and brilliant dribbling. Many players are fast but cannot control the ball, but he was amazing.
People talk about Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, but you need an Iniesta to win the big titles.
I'm actually a very simple person. A very normal man.
Nobody needs to talk about the history of Manchester United because everybody knows it.
To speak of Mexico '86, I can make it short and speak only of Maradona. I never saw a player who dominated a World Cup like he did in '86.
Andres Iniesta is the magic man, not just for Barcelona but also for Spain.
I've played at five World Cups, including one in the U.S. where the distances between the stadiums were also big.
As a player, you'd rather be up against Barcelona, Real Madrid, or Bayern. Big clubs. Great atmosphere. Real excitement.
One day I'd like to show what I can do as a coach in Germany. But I won't bend over backwards for a job in the Bundesliga and lock myself in my house for 24 hours just to win other people's approval.
Both Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic are classy players, top midfielders. They play for Real Madrid and Barcelona. That tells you everything.
The best day of my career was probably winning the World Cup!
If you concede early against a quality team, you have to play more openly - and can get picked off.
I love Paul Pogba.
You cannot always blame others if things go wrong.
When you have results, you can make a difference, and when you make a difference, you can win the Ballon d'Or.
When Messi gets the chance to go one against one, he is very difficult to stop on his own.
Important in a big tournament is how you start. With a great match at the start, you can distance yourself from the unrest from outside. And it increases the respect among opponents.
Competition is good for any player as long as they react the right way and use it as motivation.
I like football. It's fun winning the ball from someone. It's fun shooting at goal. It's fun hitting a ball over 60 metres that arrives. It's like in golf: if you hit a ball, and it flies and flies and flies, you enjoy it.
I am happy when Bayern win.
Nolito is not a left winger - he is a central player.
I think football is football, politics is politics.
All my family worked for Puma. My mother worked there, and my father was the guy that opened and closed up in the evening. We lived in the neighbouring building - just a couple of steps, and I would be in the Puma factory. All 300 people that worked there knew me; it was my adventure playground. I knew everything, even how to make a shoe sole.
Age is just a number when you possess real quality and a game plan.
Every good German team has strong leadership in the side.
Toni Kroos leaving the German national team would hurt me very much.
I often have the feeling that Ozil does not feel comfortable in the Germany jersey, that he is not free, almost as if he does not want to play at all. There is no heart, no joy, no passion.
Niko Kovac had to understand the system inside Bayern, to realise that this is a very different club to Eintracht Frankfurt, where he was before.
Muller isn't a number seven, a number nine, nor a number 10. He is everything and in between.
I hold Jonas Hector in high esteem, and he is a good player.
Sancho is a player who has everything. He has fantastic speed, great technique, a good eye for his colleagues, and that key pass. Everything he does, he pulls off at high speed at the right moment. For me, he is a perfect player. The ability he has is instinctive, natural. You cannot teach that brilliance.
Football is not only sunshine.
My wife is from Russia. I like the country, the mentality of the people.
Mexico and Italy are countries where you can almost taste the atmosphere from the teeming stands when you're on the field, and that's a real motivation for a player.
Winning the World Cup was just the most emotional experience.
I think my breakthrough was at the World Cup 1986.
I had very good players around me in the team, like in the German national team. Andreas Brehme was one of my best partners in the team because he had good eyes; he could always hit the best ball.
Diego Simeone, the coach from Atletico Madrid, was a very strong player as a midfielder.
When I'm with friends, when I have time, I like to play soccer, and I think it's still my passion, still my love. I'm not crazy to do it every day, but sometimes when I see the ball, I like to kick the ball.
Bayern is always a team that can win the Champions League title in Europe.
If someone plays six World Cups, they deserve to be congratulated.
Soccer is the main sport in Mexico; it's very important for the Mexican people. It's their passion - it's their religion - and Mexican football was always one of the best in the world.
Striker Sandro Wagner is very strong, a true No. 9, who really made his mark playing with Germany in the Confederations Cup.
When I was a player, and since then, we have never been so snobbish as to go into a tournament saying, 'We will win this World Cup.' We aren't like that.
The typical German coach wants things done one way - his way.
If Messi is on top form, then his team can win everything.
It is possible to stop Messi. Teams do it when he plays for Argentina. But the Barcelona Messi is different.
He just has the knack, the ability, to do something special and crucial. This is Messi.
