Deco

“Mourinho is a passionate man. When you lose the ball in difficult areas he goes crazy.”

“I think, because he was a different type of player to all other types of English midfielder, Paul Scholes was the best player that I saw playing for an English midfield and one of the best players in the world.”

“Cristiano Ronaldo is quite difficult to mark, but we can't get obsessed by him. Otherwise someone else is going to complicate our lives.”

“Sometimes I think people in England ask too much of the national team.”

“The Premier League is a very difficult competition, it's so tough and complicated.”

“Lampard would be really welcome in Barcelona, every good player is welcome here.”

“People have fun watching quality and variety. This is what Cristiano is all about.”

“I'm not a winger.”

“I like to listen to music during the minutes before the game; I don't feel very chatty.”

“I would like to have played with VAR, I think it would have helped me.”

“I wished I could help Fluminense a lot more, but my body didn't let me do it.”

“I am Brazilian and love my country, but I don't regret playing for Portugal. It was and still is a way of thanking the country for the opportunity it gave me.”

“I think that quite simply the Ballon D'Or is the most important individual award for a player. I think any footballer would love to be elected.”

“After us, Barca had the luck, which in reality is not luck but work, to combine three things: a young coach with new ideas, the best player in history and the best generation of Spanish football born precisely at Barca.”

“If I had to choose between any other club and Barca, I would always choose Barca because it's a club I really like.”

“I think he's the best, though I've had many great coaches: Fernando Santos, Carlo Ancelotti, Felipe Scolari. However, Mourinho brought something different. He brought ambition because in those days in Portugal it was difficult to imagine that one of our clubs could win the Champions League.”

“Time gives you experience and maturity to face things in different ways.”

“What I say is that in midfield, with his style, Scholes could play at any club.”

“When expectations are too high, sometimes the disappointment is out of proportion.”

“In Brazil, youngsters are given too much responsibility straight away - they are thrown into the fire. In my case, Corinthians were going through a crisis and the pressure was much higher.”