I start a fire and every time I exercise, I add more fuel. At just the right moment, I strike the match.
I have never made a prediction, nor will I ever do so.
There may be people with more talent than you, but there is no excuse not to work harder than you already do.
The winner blames himself. The loser blames others.
An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.
Many of the greatest talents are allowed to sloppy for training, and when I see the youth national team play, it strikes me that many of them are very focused on their hairstyles or Italian hair bands.
Some people believe that football is a matter of life and death. I am very disappointed with this attitude. I can guarantee that it is much more important than that.
Champions play until they reach their goal.
Your most difficult opponent is not the one facing you. Human nature, on the other hand, is.
I can’t relate to lazy people. We don’t speak the same language. I don’t understand you. I don’t want to understand you.
Football is a fairly simple sport. 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and in the end the Germans win!
Ultimately, it is the extra effort that separates the best from the second best. It requires ambition, determination, discipline and a willingness to sacrifice. If you add all this up, and even if you don’t win – how can you lose?
Hard work is more important than talent when talent does not want to work hard.
If you fail in your preparation, you might as well prepare to fail.
Once you know what failure feels like, determination chases success.
27
It’s different from being 21 and you think there’s endless amount of opportunities. At 33, the ending is much, much closer.
We had 99% of the game, it was the last 3% that cost us the victory.
A true master stands up when he cannot.
All I got from van Looy and his cronies was ridicule, not one piece of help or advice. They were very unfair, I was still just a naive young boy really. With Peugeot, and es[Simpson]pecially with Tom [Simpson], it was completely different.
Haters are a good problem to have. Nobody hates the good ones. They hate the great ones.
I would like to play for an Italian club, such as Barcelona.
Livingston wants to give it to Armstrong, but Armstrong would rather have it from behind by Hamilton.
All footballers are motivated by money – those who say otherwise are lying.
Bitter? No, it’s something we drink.