When Messi plays the ball, everybody expects many things from him. Sometimes it's too much because we have to let Messi breathe a bit.

I believe society and football are all the time together, and will come to a new harmony.

My dad produces good footballers.

People think that football is all glamour and money but trust me all footballers go through the same boring and annoying things as everybody else.

When I'm not training or playing, I'm watching football or watching something football-related on my phone, or about our next rival.

I love playing football. I always look at it as there's a lot worse things you can be doing than coming into a training ground in the morning and playing footy and having a laugh with the boys.

She was the one getting me to practise football. My father has helped in other ways but my mum was the one grabbing the ball and telling me: 'Come on! Let's practise now. Let's go. Right, right, left, left.'

When I was growing up, the first thing I wanted to be was a cowboy. That lasted till I was about ten. Then I wanted to be a baseball player. Preferably shortstop for the New York Yankees.

It's part of football to accept your responsibility.

The certainty that our football, the football of Spain, is recognised, that's very important to us - perhaps more important than the successes and the joy that you can create. Football hasn't always been appreciated, and luckily our football is appreciated now, at all levels of society.

I can remember running around at the age of 3, wanting to play golf, cricket and football. I was always active, one way or another, driving my parents mad.

Horses will never be my career. It's just a big passion of mine, and one that will always be there in the background, but football is my main passion and everyone knows that.

Of course, when you play football yourself you can think you want to become a manager but it does not make you a good manager.

The real football starts in training camp.

Not many players would turn down a chance to play for Real Madrid and Barcelona, as they're right at the top the tree in terms of football.

I'm a ballplayer, not an actor.

A lot of guys thought I'd bow down to them, but I wasn't like that. I was just trying to play football and do my thing.

When kids are 15 or 16, they should be playing more sports. I played football, basketball, cricket... Name any sport, and I played it.

The tip I would give is that once you play the shot, make sure your chin is touching the cue after you hit the cue ball.

One of the reasons I never went into pro football was because I wanted my kids to grow up around an academic environment. And that's exactly what we did.