"The only senior player who has been chosen is Mohamed Salah, he’s one of the best three players in the world. The remaining choices will depend on the team’s need." Egypt U-23/Olympic coach Shawky Gharib (OnTime Sport TV)
"Let's just say that I have special motivation to win the tie and go through to the semi-finals. What's going to happen now isn't going to change the result of the final in Kyiv. That's in the past." Mohamed Salah on the UEFA Champions League (MARCA)
"[Mario Balotelli was] a huge talent, yet he did nothing to improve. I wanted to change his daily routine: 'Mario, trust me. If you want to become the best you have to train hard.' He looked at me with a straight face and the next day he showed up at the gym 40 minutes before the session. Also the following day. By the third, he was already bored. That's Mario." Keisuke Honda on former AC Milan team-mate Mario Balotelli (Gazzetta Dello Sport)
“When I was little, it was often said that I dribbled too much. They would tell me to stop. But I kept going. This is one piece of advice I give to young dribblers: keep doing it, even if you don't get there right away. Don't hide. A lot of it depends on how confident you are. When I dribble, I know I go past my man half the time. I saw the statistics recently. I'm the best dribbler in Ligue 1. Not bad in a league with Neymar and Mbappe, eh?" Jeremy Doku (Het Laatste Nieuws)
"It was horrible! I apologise to all the mothers who saw their children get the same haircut." Ronaldo (Sports Illustrated)
"He came as a 16-year-old, of course you never know with injuries, he struggled really badly with bad knees when he came. But I could see someone with a personality. I remember him brushing off and putting our centre-back and centre midfielders, two big, massive lads, he put them on the floor and asked them to get up. He’s a winner. He’s got a great personality, of course. He’s proving to everyone how good a player he is. We played against Zenit in the Europa League play-off and the referee came to me after and said, 'He’ll play in the Champions League soon'. We did know. He’s a top personality. I played with Alf [Haaland’s father], he’s a bit old school in that respect. He’s a winner." Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on Erling Haaland (Sky Sports)
"People are getting racially abused but, when you see the statement, I talk also about bullying, harassment that can cause mental issues – people commit suicide because of it. It's very difficult to eradicate everything, but can it be safer? We all know that it is a great tool but a lot of people are using it as a weapon. Why? Because they can hide behind fake accounts. I know that a little portion of the world is using it as a weapon. 'Can it be safer?' is all I am asking. I will be back on it when it's safe." Thierry Henry on quitting social media
"I’ll give you one example of just how inseparable the ball and I were. One time, before I even joined La Masia, I accompanied my father while he was managing a game at Castelldefels. I was eight years old. I was playing happily by myself with a ball, when someone — I think it was a friend of my dad’s — came over and told me, “Hey, Dani, come here! You’re not going to believe this. You’re going to have your picture taken with Lionel Messi!” Apparently, Messi had a friend playing in the Castelldefels game and had come down to see him. Wow, Messi, right? In Castelldefels? What kid wouldn’t want their picture with him? Well, me! I was like, “No, thanks. I’m good. I want to keep playing! It’s just a picture, right?” But, against my will, they stuck me next to Messi and took the picture. I didn’t even say anything to him. I just waited for the click and then I went back to my ball, like I was doing him a favour. In the end, I have to say I’m glad they forced me, because I’ve still got that picture framed at home. At the time though, I wasn’t happy to have my valuable playing time interrupted — even by an icon.But I guess it illustrates just how much I loved the ball. Not even Messi was a distraction. Sorry, Leo :)" Dani Olmo (The Players' Tribune)