Lothar Matthaus
Neymar doesn't need to act - he's an excellent player, and he has everything a high-level player needs. He's one of the top five players in the world; why does he need to act? It doesn't bring him sympathy, and it's not good for him.Collection: Sympathy
I had very good players around me in the team, like in the German national team. Andreas Brehme was one of my best partners in the team because he had good eyes; he could always hit the best ball.Collection: Best
I was certainly no Maradona. I was a very fast player. When I saw a space, I used it. When I went past somebody, he didn't catch up with me again. I was a player who came with a run-up. What Maradona could see in a small space, I saw over long distances.Collection: Space
When Messi has the ball centrally, with time, he has so many options to hurt you.
I'm actually a very simple person. A very normal man.
Both Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic are classy players, top midfielders. They play for Real Madrid and Barcelona. That tells you everything.
I like football. It's fun winning the ball from someone. It's fun shooting at goal. It's fun hitting a ball over 60 metres that arrives. It's like in golf: if you hit a ball, and it flies and flies and flies, you enjoy it.
Kroos was right to go abroad. It was like winning the lottery.
I think my breakthrough was at the World Cup 1986.
Football in Italy at the end of the '80s and beginning of '90s was the best all over the world.
Andres Iniesta is the magic man, not just for Barcelona but also for Spain.
Toni Kroos leaving the German national team would hurt me very much.
In Germany, we laugh at it. Mourinho just selects a topic to moan about - transfers, team preparation, a rival coach. But Pep Guardiola wants it all to be about the performance of his team. He's obsessed by possession, like at Bayern Munich, and will not compromise on that at Manchester City.
I often have the feeling that Ozil does not feel comfortable in the Germany jersey, that he is not free, almost as if he does not want to play at all. There is no heart, no joy, no passion.
Niko Kovac had to understand the system inside Bayern, to realise that this is a very different club to Eintracht Frankfurt, where he was before.
Muller isn't a number seven, a number nine, nor a number 10. He is everything and in between.
I hold Jonas Hector in high esteem, and he is a good player.
Sancho is a player who has everything. He has fantastic speed, great technique, a good eye for his colleagues, and that key pass. Everything he does, he pulls off at high speed at the right moment. For me, he is a perfect player. The ability he has is instinctive, natural. You cannot teach that brilliance.
Every good German team has strong leadership in the side.
Football is not only sunshine.
My wife is from Russia. I like the country, the mentality of the people.
All my family worked for Puma. My mother worked there, and my father was the guy that opened and closed up in the evening. We lived in the neighbouring building - just a couple of steps, and I would be in the Puma factory. All 300 people that worked there knew me; it was my adventure playground. I knew everything, even how to make a shoe sole.
Mexico and Italy are countries where you can almost taste the atmosphere from the teeming stands when you're on the field, and that's a real motivation for a player.
Winning the World Cup was just the most emotional experience.
Important in a big tournament is how you start. With a great match at the start, you can distance yourself from the unrest from outside. And it increases the respect among opponents.
Diego Simeone, the coach from Atletico Madrid, was a very strong player as a midfielder.
One day I'd like to show what I can do as a coach in Germany. But I won't bend over backwards for a job in the Bundesliga and lock myself in my house for 24 hours just to win other people's approval.
When I'm with friends, when I have time, I like to play soccer, and I think it's still my passion, still my love. I'm not crazy to do it every day, but sometimes when I see the ball, I like to kick the ball.
Bayern is always a team that can win the Champions League title in Europe.
If someone plays six World Cups, they deserve to be congratulated.
Soccer is the main sport in Mexico; it's very important for the Mexican people. It's their passion - it's their religion - and Mexican football was always one of the best in the world.
Striker Sandro Wagner is very strong, a true No. 9, who really made his mark playing with Germany in the Confederations Cup.
When I was a player, and since then, we have never been so snobbish as to go into a tournament saying, 'We will win this World Cup.' We aren't like that.
The typical German coach wants things done one way - his way.
If Messi is on top form, then his team can win everything.
It is possible to stop Messi. Teams do it when he plays for Argentina. But the Barcelona Messi is different.
He just has the knack, the ability, to do something special and crucial. This is Messi.
When Messi gets the chance to go one against one, he is very difficult to stop on his own.
Normally, the coach does not like to make changes that are not necessary - because a team has to find itself.
At Wembley, everything is bigger, wider; the atmosphere is different.
Iceland won't change. No matter who they play, they're 4-4-2.
Muller is part No. 7 and part No. 9, a second striker. But in Ancelotti's system, there is no room for that type of player.
Raheem Sterling is a danger to every defence because of his pace and technique. If you let him go one against one, you are in trouble. He has that speed with the ball at his feet to make a difference.
Robert Lewandowski has had some criticism, but he knows how to find the net.
I am happy when Bayern win.
When teams train now, it is about what they do with the ball and, if they lose it, how quickly they press to win it back.
Muller is a winner for Germany and expects to score big goals in big games, especially with his late runs from behind the striker.
Nolito is not a left winger - he is a central player.
People talk about Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, but you need an Iniesta to win the big titles.
As a player, you'd rather be up against Barcelona, Real Madrid, or Bayern. Big clubs. Great atmosphere. Real excitement.