I extended my contract here with Bayern because I am happy. I am very thankful of the club and how they supported me regarding my injuries. That is why I put my contract extension into motion so early.Collection: Thankful
I don't regret the move to Bayern. It's a very good moment for me, also because my team-mates trust in me.
Football has a thing: You have to decide on an action in a moment, and your head has to be fresh for taking that decision in the moment.
In Spain, everything's more tactical, more technical, with more possession. In Germany, it's more physical; it's about the runs you make, the counterattacks, and the German mentality is unique: whatever the score, you go to the 90th minute.
The best thing about having a footballer dad is seeing the game up close. You watch him train, then go home and practice what you've seen in the front room, rearranging the furniture.
Football is a competition to see who's the best, not a battle. It's not a war. When it ends, we're still alive.
Football's become more physical. I would have liked to have been born 10 or 20 years earlier to enjoy football with the same commitment and desire but without the toughness it has now.
For any dad who has two footballing sons, to have them in a semi-final and know that at least one will reach the final is the best present in the world.
You need to know how to enjoy the victories. In the end, this is a great sport, and it's to be enjoyed.
When I was small, I would sit next to my dad and watch the round-up highlights programme with him, and we would talk about the games. I loved it.
In Italy, they are incredibly competitive. It may be that their game is more defensive, but they defend so well; here in Germany, there is more speed and intensity. In England, they are more direct, very box-to-box.
I arrived in Spain at three years old when my dad played in Valencia. Then we spent a lot of time in Vigo in the northwest part of Spain.
My feeling is that my body and all my things inside me - when I move, when I do everything - are Brazilian because my family is Brazilian, and my mother language is Brazilian Portuguese. But all the thinking in my life, all the treatment with people, I think I'm more from Spain. That's how I grew up.
We have this beautiful tradition at Bayern that we all get together with our families after the game in a room and celebrate the wins. That is why it hurts a lot more when we lose.
When you master all defensive and offensive aspects of the game and always enjoy the majority of possession, you're sitting in pole position to win.
It's a fact that Guardiola is joining Manchester City, and we have to respect that. But there is no truth in the rumours saying I will follow him.
We have to play football and not talk. We don't talk about politics, the personal opinions, and debates - you take them home. We only talk about football. That's what we are here for.
You can play football in Bayern, in Barcelona, in Manchester, in London, wherever. In the end, it's football, and you want to play with the best.
Pep trusted me, and I felt that trust. He won a lot of things, and I learned a lot from him during his Barcelona period.
It's the perfect club for any footballer to develop and to grow, because as everybody knows, La Masia can give you stability; they take care of you when you leave home.
One of my dreams is to lift a title with Spain. I lifted titles in the past that did not feel like mine.
There are people you can say you have seen play, such as Pele or Maradona. But Messi is unique, out on his own, and is going to make history. I can say I saw Messi play.