Alfredo Di Stéfano

“I always wanted to have the ball for myself; she was my girlfriend.”

“People nowadays are obsessed with golden awards, about who is the best — when we know in reality the one with more money wins.”

“I've always been a team player, that's all. One for all and all for one.”

“I always enjoyed training, sweating and learning”

“Do you know how many rules there are in football? … There are 17 rules. That's it. Everyone talks about football and nobody remembers this simple fact.”

“We must always strive to improve, little by little.”

“It has changed a bit, of course. The speed and all that. But let me tell you something: in the olden times, let's say the year, I don't know, in the Sixties for instance, we would eat a plate of spaghetti and run out onto the pitch. Then people started saying 'they're too full', meaning you'd get bloated like a pig if you ate spaghetti. But this shows you those guys were clever because nowadays all the medical experts recommend pasta for athletes and footballers because you digest it slowly.”

“I was a forward, and one of the obligations of a forward is to score goals.”

“Failure is a necessary part of success.”

“Finals are not to be played; they are to be won.”

“Ball is made of leather, leather comes from cows, cows eat grass, and there is where the ball must be.”