Sergio Busquets Quotes

I prefer defensive midfielder because I know my job when I play there. More things are in front of you.

Nowadays midfielders definitely have to be complete players - you can't just be a destroyer, you have to build play too.

Centre-backs usually get criticised for clearing the ball long, but it's easier doing this than risking a pass. If you lose the ball at the back, it's almost a goal. Most centre-backs don't risk this kind of game, depending on the holding midfielder in front.

I can be the only defensive midfielder and try and break up play. Or I can play a little more forward.

I would prefer to play for and against an attacking team, but I am now used to playing against defensive teams.

At Ajax, they are strict when it comes to using the ball as a defender.

Sometimes you can get sloppy and control the ball right at your feet, and that gives the defenders a chance.

I like playing just outside of my own penalty box, the player who receives the ball and organises the game.

My perfect formation would be 4-3-3 with one holding and then the two going forward. I would be one of the ones going forward.

I will have to play as a goalkeeper and sometimes like a centre-back and play with my feet. I like that system and I feel comfortable in it.

As a midfielder, when you have sealed things up at the back, my job is to provide the ammunition for the strikers and forwards, to create opportunities for them.

It is an important part of the role of a centre-back to focus on building up the game and initiating moves.

What Liverpool do really well is they try to get you inside but then close you down.

In the defensive midfield position, the player needs to give balance to the team and try to control the game. That's exactly what I try to do.

A midfielder should be able to play several positions.

In my time at Milan, the club played with a 4-3-1-2 formation, and I was the player behind the two strikers. At Real, I play behind three. There is a greater defensive obligation, but I try to work around the area.

I haven't played a lot as a centre-back, but in those games, I feel like I did well.

Playing at fullback it's part of your role to get up and take those high balls.

I have faced many, but the most annoying was James Milner. He follows you forward and follows you backwards. It's very difficult because he attacks you and defends you, and then attacks you and defends you again.

Harry Kane is a very complicated player to stop.

Keeping up your concentration is one of the hardest tasks when you're a centre-back because a team like Bayern tend to dominate and can give you sense of false security.

Centre-backs with good technique can move the ball forward, even when under pressure.

Against Chelsea, you will have periods in the game when you are right up against it, when they keep the ball. They are pretty solid the way they set their team up.

The best way to stop Messi is when you play with 11 men and then you can double mark him, one player to stay on him and the other to help out. If it is 11 against 10 then you have almost no chance of stopping him.

When you come to a place like Old Trafford, you have to defend, and the system is in place for perfectly good reasons.