"Cristiano must want to kill himself for not being here. The quality and quantity of players that PSG have now is unique. Cristiano surely wants to be here, but they brought Messi and luckily he's much better. Messi is from another world. You kick a stone at him and he stops it, he passes you like it's nothing, he thinks before the other guy. I've never seen anything like it. I played with Cristiano, Neymar, Mbappe, Rooney, Van Persie, Ibrahimovic, Benzema, Bale and honestly I've never seen anything like it. He's unique is Leo.” Angel Di Maria "It is the most difficult moment of my sporting career. When they told me, I blocked it out. It was like a jug of cold water. I have had hard and difficult moments, but this... I feel very sad, I did not expect it. I'm still taking it in. I did everything I could to stay. I reduced my salary by half. I wanted to stay.” Lionel Messi on leaving Barcelona
"The greatest of all time, you can surpass me whenever you want, it will be one more assist for you. After my girlfriend, [you are] my best partner. Don Leo Messi, continue making history wherever you want to go. There will always be a CRAZY [guy] at your service for all moments, especially the less good ones!" Daniel Alves “The Algerian guy on the scooter, or was it a bike? Yeah, bike. Was funny to be fair. I knew, especially when I knew that he'd seen me, that he was going to follow us all the way to the airport. One of the kitmen, I think it was Ally or Mike, gave him a jumper from City. He was so happy. Everyone on the bus was laughing and it was a good moment.” Riyad Mahrez on an Algerian fan following the Manchester City bus on its way to the airport in Paris last season [Together documentary]
"She is a beast at 39 and if she wanted to go, I would bank on it, from a physical standpoint. But from an emotional and a mental standpoint, I think she's done. I think we have seen Carli Lloyd play her last world-championship game.” Hope Solo on Carli Lloyd’s chances of going to Australia & New Zealand 2023 [All of US: The U.S. Women's Soccer Show] "It will be even more difficult for us now, but we are up to the challenge. Every day I write to Cristiano Ronaldo to come to Lille. He just answers, 'Ha ha ha'. We'll try to use our weapons and I'll try to bring Cristiano back in some way. I'll make a plan!” Jose Fonte on how Lille’s quest to retain the Ligue 1 title now that Lionel Messi has joined Paris Saint-Germain [talkSPORT] "Words can't really explain it. In my mind, I was thinking there's no way these are the real people. And then Robben walks in the room, and it's a real guy, it's not a cartoon. [I] shook his hand and he introduced himself, very polite, humble guy, it was amazing.” Alphonso Davies describes walking into the Bayern Munich dressing room for the first time [CNN Sports] “I suppose I’d say Peter, but I still think he was overrated. I just don’t think he was as good as everyone made out, but he was still very good.” Roy Keane on the best goalkeeper he played with [50 Questions with Gary Neville | Overlap Xtra]
“It will hurt to see him in another team’s shirt. Leo personifies Barcelona. He was everything, he’s a player who transcends the team. I’ve never seen a player like him and I don’t think I ever will.” Andres Inietsa [AFP]