JAY-JAY OKOCHA

I think it's always easier to sit on the outside and act as if you have the best solution.

I got to Germany without being scouted, and without any experience of playing for my country. But I was given the chance to excel.

I don't walk around with a bible or preach to people and I don't want to disturb my team-mates on match days by praying in the dressing room, so I do that at the hotel before I leave. I respect their way of life and do not insist that my way is best. I have not tried to convert anybody.

Maputo is a difficult place to play.

I was gifted with the ball, and I saw the opportunity of playing in the Bundesliga as the tool I needed to make a name for myself.

I played in Qatar only because I had a great offer and I am not ashamed to accept. We played in empty stadiums! I realised what a mistake I made and decided to leave the club immediately.

Preparing well for a tournament sometimes is not enough to win it as you also need a lot of luck in order to win.

Nobody likes it when people dribble past them, me included, but I can't tackle.

I have been following the Premier League very closely because once you have been a footballer you have an affinity with the game.

I have got my pride to defend.

It's always good to have more than one player who can take free-kicks or penalties.

I think it is also the most demanding league; the pace of the game in the EPL is something else and rightly for me is maybe the best league in the world.

As kids, we were used to playing football with anything that we managed to kick and whenever we got a ball, it was a bonus.

Sometimes having the best players is not enough to win the Champions League.

If you work hard, dedicated to what you are doing, and you are disciplined, you will succeed in the end.

I pray a lot and it has helped me throughout my whole career to stay calm and focused.

Messi and Ronaldo have dominated world football for a decade and, given the nature of football, at a certain point the baton will have to pass to someone else. I think Neymar has a great chance of filling that role.

Well, I think sometimes I am brutally honest.

You have every right to set yourselves targets and whether you achieve it or not is entirely a different matter but at least you have to be ambitious and set yourself challenging goals.

When you want something desperately and you lose it, no matter how hard you try to get yourself motivated, it's always difficult.

It's a team sport but every player's ego will kick in at a certain point.

After playing in England, going to a place where you have 40, 50 people at the stadium was no fun.

There were very few TV sets when I grew up... We could not see matches and did not know too many players. Only Pele was a household name and he was the one most children idolised.

My faith comes before anything. It has also taught me to respect and admire people for what they are and who they are.

You can't play football without having a good training pitch.