I think people generally have a good heart and the intention to help.
Vincent Kompany
The biggest pass for a defender is a pass forward.
I'm an adopted Mancunian. This city has grown on me. I have a wife from Manchester and have three kids who think they are more Mancuniuan than anything else, which is a problem I need to address!
It's funny: one of the strongest parts of my game today is heading, and that only really developed when I started playing at the professional level. In the youth teams, all we did was passing.
I kind of press pause when it's a derby, and the season doesn't matter to me anymore; it's all about the derby.
I've been able to come back at a high level which is something I'm happy about, not just stand on the pitch but able to perform as well.
I would say Pep Guardiola's No. 1 quality is that he sees the technical and tactical aspect of a game really fast.
Whichever work you do, people go through life having several priorities. I know my football is what got me here. The work I do for SOS or my charity work in general has always been a priority for me, and then my family is a priority as well, so you set yourself different things, and they just balance each other out.
I don't think you can underestimate the impact of the gaffer.
I remember always going to the train station where I grew up, and on the wall was written, 'The real wealth of a nation is diversity of cultures.' Where I grew up, that's what I saw, and that's what I believe in as well - and I still believe it.
Belgium's 1986 team is like the Christmas movie that they bring out every single year. That World Cup is something we get to see and hear about all the time. It is part of our general education in Belgium.
I've received much from Manchester - a great career at the highest level, unconditional support from the fans through thick and thin, a lovely family, and so much more to be grateful for.
I've worked extremely hard. There's always that part that people don't see, the things you do behind the scenes.
I'm not worried about getting extra game time, extra minutes, and all this kind of stuff that so many other players will worry about.
When you come so many times to the end of your career, you understand that you have to appreciate every moment. It's the story of life.
Brussels is sort of a mini London in the sense that if you think about putting a football pitch in London, people laugh at you. There is just no space.
My motivation has always been high. I've never doubted myself.
If you talk to a top accountant about his field of expertise, it's mind-boggling.
Pep's tactical and technical assessments are like nothing I've ever seen before, and I think that's why people enjoy to see him fail.
I have dreamed of Brazil all my life. As a child, I had videos of Brazil, of their World Cup wins, of Pele, and of all the big players.
Football is so intense you don't have time to sit back and look at what you have achieved.
I remember having a discussion at some stage and saying a coffee machine would do well in the training ground. Everyone was like, 'No, in England, we drink tea.' I was like, 'OK, I was just saying that I think coffee works as well.' Next thing you know, after the international break, we had this massive coffee machine come in from Nespresso.
Only the very best clubs are able to pass the baton of continuity down through the generations.
What annoys me most is it is so easy to focus on negatives all the time. All you hear is a lot of people - whether it is industry leaders or politicians - complaining about everything. I don't deny things are not always perfect, but the stage it gets is huge compared with the simple things that make people happy, like winning a football match.
A win is a win, whether you do it the difficult way or the easy way.
I love the derby because of the banter and rivalry. If you live outside of Manchester, you can take it out of context sometimes, where you can think it's all hate, and I don't think it is.
I think that's the reason why I'm proud to play for Belgium - because I can take ownership. I'm not saying that I'm not proud of being Congolese as well - but I'm saying this is also my country, and anything that happens in my country, I want to have a say.
My mum was always more pushing me towards the academic side; she wasn't really interested in me having a professional football career.
Once you achieve a goal and you are on that high, you have to consciously pull yourself in to say, 'I need to have the same hunger and desire as when I had nothing.' That's the hardest thing to do in life. That is getting challenged every single day once you win titles.
When I was coming through, I had very little support from the older players. I always said to myself that if I make it, I never want to be that kind of person. I have a passion for seeing young players develop, so every young player who comes into the first team, I am willing to listen. I will give him everything I have.
Our generation has been described as a golden generation. I hate that term.
I want to be involved as a fan, as a player, as a manager, as a technical director, as a groundsman. It doesn't matter. Whichever way the club sees me helping them out, I'll always be around.
We can't always wait on the government to sort out all issues. I think they set policies, they set the rules, but we all have a duty to help as much as we can.
I've been very lucky - I don't come from a privileged upbringing.
We've had a humble upbringing. You know, my father came through as a political refugee; my mother comes from a hard-working-farmers family. We've had humble upbringing.
It's a mistake to think that there's a difference between someone on the street and someone not on the street.
As wealthy as you are, nothing, nothing, nothing guarantees you that through a breakdown of relationship, your kids won't end up on the streets. It's nothing to do with wealth: sometimes it can be down to other things, like the breakdown of relationships.
I'm someone who takes on information quite well, so there's maybe a path into management. But I see what successful managers have to go through to get to that level - it's a completely different ball game - so I think I'll cross that bridge when I get there.
Once I finish playing, I'm still a Manchester City player for the rest of my life. That won't change.
I want my kids to go and see the world and understand they are privileged, but it doesn't mean they don't have the right to speak up and see what is happening.
I was desperate to leave Hamburg. The club was awesome, don't get me wrong, but I had a personal issue with one of the board members. He was desperate to get me out. The first club came calling, and it was Man City.
You are not guaranteed to be part of that story if you don't perform.
Everybody is different. Some players need a lot of rest and just be at home.
Funnily enough, I think Gary Neville is very interesting... and talks a lot of sense.
You win the mental war when you have success. You lose it when you don't have success.
When I was a kid in my neighborhood, there was nobody that supported Belgium. It was impossible and unthinkable because there was nothing they could relate to.
Maybe from the outside, Belgium looks complicated to understand, but from the inside, actually, every country is complicated.
I've been living in England for a while, and I am still trying to figure out why we have Great Britain playing the Olympics together and England in football.
I am 100% Congolese and 100% Belgian. I am very proud of it.
Everyone in Manchester in general has a positive mindset.
