"I don’t consider myself a veteran. As you can see, my spirit is about 13 years old. Who knows, maybe when the 2022 World Cup comes around, I will still be competing for a place on the team. My body will be 39, but my spirit will have only turned 17." Brazil right-back Dani Alves writes in The Players' Tribune after it was announced he would miss out on the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ due to suffering a knee injury during Paris Saint-Germain's Coupe de France victory

“At the moment if I want to continue to work, I think I have to move out of the country, because my gut feeling at the moment is that I would feel I would betray my club by staying in England. People might feel that I’ve betrayed what I’ve built here." Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger talks about his plans with the club's official website after leading the club for 22 years

"If nothing strange happens, this World Cup will be my last participation with the Spanish national team." Spain midfielder Andres Iniesta tells Onda Cero radio that he will likely retire from the national team after the World Cup in Russia

"I would be dishonest if I told you I’m not afraid. But deep down I feel calm and at peace because I know I’m naturally curious. And the day I stop playing football I will find a way not to get bored and I’ll stay busy. After all, players like us, who have lived the game intensely, have to keep their minds occupied and have a reason to get up, something to fight for. I’ll never get bored or miss being in the public eye. The only problem is that my life has been organised for me for 23 years. Every morning you are given a timetable. But when you have 24 hours ahead of you with nothing to do, that could be a problem." Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon speaks with Gerard Pique for The Players' Tribune on whether he is afraid of retirement

“There was a pressure here (signalling his head), powerful, never going away. I was fine when I went into the dressing room for the France game but I started to feel this powerful dizziness, overwhelmed, panicked, and they lay me on the physio’s bench. That was the first time but I had nasty episodes like that again. There’s medicine, psychological treatment to overcome the barriers you’ve erected, the fear. It started in February and it lasted until the summer. When the Euros came I decided I couldn’t go, that I had to isolate myself.​" Bojan Krkic opens up on his anxiety attacks as a teenager that stopped him from going to UEFA EURO 2008 with Spain, speaking in an interview with The Guardian

“We’ve been in this transition period for a while and lost so many veterans who were great leaders on the field. I think it took a period of time for certain players to step up or feel comfortable stepping up into a greater role in the team. I feel good with where we are, but I still feel like we have a lot of progress to be made in terms of identifying those leadership roles and the roles on the team in general.” USA forward Alex Morgan speaks with The Athletic about the state of the USA women's national team

Buffon confirmed he will be leaving Juventus on Thursday after spending 17 years at the club—Juve President Andrea Agnelli had words of the highest praise for the World Cup winner

"We will not be among the teams that would make up the numbers at the World Cup, but instead be among the teams that will make it interesting because we have all it takes.” 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup adidas Golden Ball winner Kelechi Nwakali tells Goal that Nigeria has the potential to go far at the World Cup in Russia

“I realistically saw a group growing into the World Cup 2018 that could go into a semi-final. The World Cup has nothing to do with the four years prior to that. It’s a completely new chapter. Whenever I played in a World Cup or European Championship, it gave me so much energy. I don’t know why. I could have had a poor season before that tournament, and suddenly that tournament brought me to life. Whatever happened the last couple of months before didn’t matter. We almost didn’t qualify for Italy in 1990 with Germany. We had to win our last game against Wales, and I still remember that Mark Hughes missed a 100-percent chance two minutes before the end of the game. He had a free header and he put it over the bar. If he puts that in, we’re not going to Italy. And then we won the World Cup.” Former Germany forward and former USA head coach Jurgen Klinsmann speaks with Yahoo about the nature of tournament football

“You look at it and you don't believe it because you used to collect the stickers of so many players and, today, yours is there. You get your own and you see everyone talking about it, you see everyone wanting to get your sticker. This is crazy. It makes me so happy. Sometimes I can't even believe it. It is simply the biggest tournament in the world of football, the most desired by every player in every country. Before, you had an idea. Now you really know what it's like.” Brazil forward Gabriel Jesus speaks with ESPN Brazil about having his own Panini sticker

“Liverpool have a big chance to win the Champions League against Real Madrid. I witnessed on that pitch what Salah can do to Marcelo during the Olympic Games. I was playing with Egypt against Brazil. Marcelo is terrified of Salah.I noticed the same thing in the Champions League when Roma played against Real.” Former Egypt captain Mohamed Aboutrika​ believes his former team-mate Mohamed Salah can lead Liverpool to UEFA Champions League glory next weekend, speaking with beIN Sports MENA

“It’s difficult to explain how happy I feel after so much time, it was a dream I’ve always had since I was a child. I feel so proud to belong to this group, which has changed the lives of so many Atletico fans. Before we had to explain why we wore this shirt.” Fernando Torres on winning the UEFA Europa League with Atletico Madrid

"We are competitors, we are going to do better than in 2014. The goal given by the Federation is to go to the semi-finals, But, five days before the final, you will try your hardest, do not calculate, do not think, and go for it." France striker Olivier Giroud tells SFR about Les Bleus' ambitions for Russia 2018