Saturday 19 October 2019, 09:08

The Week in Quotes

"It was a childhood dream for me to play even one game of ice hockey. I’ve done that now and nobody can take that from me." Petr Cech after making his ice hockey debut for Guildford Phoenix

"I think in particular that he selected me while I was not playing anymore - for a player, you don't know how much it means. It's a signal... a very strong signal! It is a mark of confidence that is worth all the money in the world. I know the coach trusts and believes in me. And once he did that, I felt I could die for him on the pitch ever since. If he told me to play in goal, I would." Kylian Mbappe on France head coach Didier Deschamps in an interview with TF1

Andorra's official Twitter account reacts to the principality's first ever win in UEFA EURO qualifying

"I had the touch of an elephant." Australia and Chicago Red Stars forward Sam Kerr on the first episode of the Women in Blazers podcast

"I always tell kids that it's OK to be different or feel something different. Hopefully the younger Sam would look at the older Sam and think,'That's pretty cool that she makes people feel so confident in who they are.' It doesn't matter about sport, it's more about who you are as a person." Kerr responds to a question about what the younger version of herself would think of her now

"Barcelona without a doubt—when they had Xavi, (Andres) Iniesta, a young (Sergio) Busquets, (Lionel) Messi and of course Neymar—they had the best team at the time by far. They had (Dani) Alves on the right-back, (Jordi) Alba on the left and (Carles) Puyol; they had the best team for two or three years. And then there was Bayern (Munich) after when they had (Arjen) Robben, (Franck) Riberty, (Bastian) Schweinsteiger, Xabi Alonso, (Toni) Kroos and (Philipp) Lahm and (David) Alaba on both flanks—it was even a different team to what they have today. The characteristic of last season when England won the European Cups is that the three teams who dominated European football in the last 15 years were Bayern, Real Madrid and Barcelona, and last year the three teams didn't have the same level they had before and England took advantage of that very well and that is great and I hope that continues this season again." Arsene Wenger on the best team he ever faced, in an interview with beIN SPORTS

"I was six or seven. I fell in love with the whole experience. And that was it. You can’t shake your team: it’s in your blood and your bones, even when they’re completely s•••. Obviously, when they’re doing well it’s wonderful, but the other week they lost 8-0 to Manchester City and I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. But you can’t support anyone else. Watford are my team, and I’m glad. I never thought I’d end up owner of the club, or a director, but Watford saved my life. Working with them kept me grounded when my life was going completely crazy – it reminded me of my roots, of who I really was. I’m forever grateful to them. Except when they lose 8-0. I’m not very grateful then." Elton John talks about where his love for football came from, in a Q&A hosted by The Guardian

"I remember having to really focus on controlling the ball properly to set up the bicycle kick. You may well plan something in football but it is not always easy to make it real, so thank god that it happened on that occasion. It wasn’t easy as I was stood outside of the box, far away from the goal, so really it was a perfect strike." Rivaldo remembers his incredible Barcelona hat-trick in 2001 with The Independent

"[Vinicius] is already at one of the best clubs in the world. I think he will soon be there, among the best." Ronaldinho backs Vinicius Junior to be among the elite in world football

"I believe people understand me now – they can see the truth and ignore what they have heard about me previously. They see that I’m a person who only wants to do the best for the national team." Raheem Sterling speaks in an exclusive interview with FourFourTwo magazine

Zlatan Ibrahimovic previews the Major League Soccer playoffs in a way he only can