“Football is a team sport and not an individual sport. We win as a team, and every individual is better if we are part of the team.”
“It's not easy to come somewhere new and have to find your place. You might feel someone doesn't like you, or you might need to find new friends. It's not easy, and I don't like this kind of thing. It's not easy, so you want to protect the players who are alone.”
“After winning the European Championship with Spain, I know exactly how it feels to win a major trophy, and I know that, if we can win at Liverpool, it will feel the same or even better than it did with Spain.”
“I want to say thanks to the Chelsea fans because I have seen them very, very happy with me for joining Chelsea.”
“When I retire, the only thing that concerns me is that no one can say that I was a bad team-mate or disrespectful or self-important.”
“I didn't realise how my life was changing. When I was 17, 18, 20, I didn't realise how big football was and everything around football. How many people live for football and love football. I was a professional, but I was a supporter.”
“I was captain in Atletico at 19, playing in the same team as Demetrio Albertini, who won three Champions Leagues, and Sergi Barjuan from Barcelona, who had won everything, and they were 32, 33. I was a kid as captain, so I wasn't the real captain, just a kid learning from them.”
“Liverpool is a fundamental part of my life. They don't remember me that way, but time will change that. I could not have chosen a better place to go when I left Atletico.”
“You have to know what club you are playing for, or you just play for yourself. Every time I put on a Liverpool shirt, I know it is more than just a football game.”
“At Liverpool, I had almost everything but titles. I felt like a king, but the team was falling apart.”