Fernando Torres

“I like to play. It doesn't matter if it's just me up front on my own or alongside another striker. I always want to play in the first XI.”

“As a kid, I never once dreamt of playing for Liverpool.”

“For me, Real Madrid are just like any other club, like Barcelona, Milan, Bayern Munich, or Inter. Just another big club.”

“I remember when I first came to Liverpool, Pepe Reina helped with everything, and he made it easy for me. When I was Atletico Madrid captain, I tried to help everyone. These are the basics in football: you need to create an atmosphere and try to create a group of friends. It's not easy, and it doesn't always happen, but you have to try.”

“You always have to aspire to everything; winning titles is what I've been missing. And I will give my life and everything I have in order to achieve it.”

“My only path has always been to work hard.”

“Madrid is not as big as London, but it is true when you are coming from a big city like Madrid, nothing is going to surprise you, and I am very happy to move to a city like London. It is a big city, and you can do everything you want with the respect that the English people always have.”

“The MLS is a fantastic competition, and it is growing all the time.”

“My father worked every day; my brother and sister had to travel many hours to study, so Atletico were for people like us.”

“You can have a contract that is better than your friends, but no player looks back and says, 'I won more money.'”

“I can be very shy. I really like to stay at home with my people because I'm really shy. My wife is as well; we're both really shy.”

“When I was a child, my dream was to play for Atletico.”

“I learnt that if we won, it didn't matter that I hadn't played. I had to keep working.”

“I always live in the present. I never dream about what might happen. Why? It might not.”

“When you play, you do not ask yourself how it feels to be on the bench. You have to live it to understand how difficult it is to be there without being there. To enter a match knowing you do not have the confidence of the coach. To play when you simply don't have the habit of playing.”

“I am a professional, and I always fulfil my deals.”

“At Liverpool, I had almost everything but titles. I felt like a king, but the team was falling apart.”

“It was very hard to go through life as a small boy supporting Atletico.”

“A player wants to be remembered for what he has won, for the medals, for what he has given his club.”

“English football has an enormous following across the world, not just because of the players but because of its history, its tradition, the excitement, the capacity crowds.”