Football Legends Quotes

When you look at role models, you tend to look at players who have played at the highest level, your Viv Andersons and so on.

There won't be more Messis, and we don't expect there to be more, as there won't be another generation in La Masia like the one with Xavi, Busi, Puyol, Iniesta and me.

I rate Fabien Barthez and played with two great keepers in Alex Stepney and Harry Gregg.

I can tell my grandkids that I played with Drew Brees and Tom Brady, and Flacco will definitely be added to that list.

I used to watch Beckham and Andrea Pirlo. Players like that, they had a fantastic right foot on them; everyone knows that.

I love Messi with the ball at his feet: he scores goals and does all the rest, too. But Cristiano's numbers can't be ignored. It's a cruel comparison. Both of them deserve respect.

They are among the three best in the world: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Neymar are the three best players in the world and I'm happy I have one of them playing alongside me.

I've always been a big fan of Thierry Henry. I enjoy watching all the great players, really. But we're always drawn to some players more than others, and in my case, it's Titi. He's my favourite player. I also really liked Luis Figo when he was at Real Madrid.

It was an honor to be invited to visit Real Madrid's training ground and meet Raul, Ronaldo, Kaka, and all the other footballers that play for such a successful team.

When I look back over my career, having an opportunity to compete against really good players like Lester Hayes are some of the highlights.

When I played for Stuttgart, I met Manchester United and Chelsea. With United, I immediately think of the duels with Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes and with Chelsea, it was John Terry. Those players are symbols of their clubs and the success they had at that time.

Depending on who we're playing, it's just kind of, like, a little starstruck. You know, because these are guys that... I'm playing against Tom Brady or Russell Wilson, Andrew Luck, guys like that that I've been watching since high school, that's been doing crazy things.

At clubs like Liverpool, great players come and go.

You can never know if there will be a second Cruyff, someone with a great personality who can grow up and make it into the squad of the club they love. But what is certain is that, in the Champions League, there will be big clubs producing these players forever.

Every coach wants to train Manchester United; it's one of the biggest clubs in the world.

The Ballon d'Or has never been something that I've missed.

I think it was fantastic being in the 49ers Hall of Fame.

I think about the great players with whom I have shared a pitch: Eric Cantona, Zinedine Zidane, Pirlo, Xavi, Cristiano Ronaldo - and the greatest of them all is Messi.

When I first arrived at Napoli, I was the ball boy, which meant that I got to watch as the legends trained. Then, once I joined the youth team as a young teenager, I was a midfielder just like Tardelli.

LaDainian Tomlinson, Hines Ward, Marion Barber, and a host of other black stars help the NFL shine brightly week after week.

We have about 4 million people who have voted for who they want to see in the Hall of Fame. There are some people they put down that are pretty good players. You have Ray Guy, Jim Plunkett, Lester Hayes and Donnie Shell.

I always wanted to be one of the best players in the world like Zinedine Zidane, so it was great that I ended up playing at West Ham against some of the best players in the world.

Every club has legends, and at Barcelona, Cruyff and Pep are going to be spoken about forever, knowing what they've achieved and in what style.

I think if Joe Montana or Peyton Manning had their way, they would've stayed where they had won Super Bowls and played so well. They wouldn't have had to leave.

It's good for Brazilian football to have idols, stars, big stars coming back to Brazilian clubs. The tournaments become much better, more interesting. Ze Roberto, Juninho Pernambucano, Ronaldinho Gaucho, and other players who have returned to Brazil strengthen the league and improve the tournaments.