Ángel Di María: "They say that my father was an even better footballer than me, but he broke his knees when he was young, and his dream died. They say that my grandfather was even better than him, but he lost both of his legs in a train accident, and his dream died. My dream was close to dying so many times. But my father kept working under the tin roof … my mother kept pedalling … I kept running into space."

What happened to Adriano? 🗣️ Let the man himself explain.

Kevin De Bruyne: "I am a brutally honest person. So I will let you in on a little secret. Before I came to Manchester City, I didn’t really know what to make of this Raheem Sterling guy. I had never met him, and from what I’d read about him in the English press, I thought he was going to be a very different character. I thought.… Well.… I didn’t think he’d be a bad guy, really. But the tabloids were always claiming that he was arrogant. So I guess I thought he’d be … what do the English call it? A bit of a dickhead, maybe? Raheem and I have this strong connection, because we arrived at City around the same time, and there was a lot of negativity about us in the press. They said I was “the Chelsea reject.” They said Raheem was this flashy guy who left Liverpool for money. They said we were difficult characters. Of course, when you read this stuff about yourself, you think, Me? I’m not difficult. This is ridiculous. These people don’t even know me! But honestly, when you read about other players, it influences the way you think. You can’t help it. Then I got to City and I actually met Raheem, and we’d talk a bit after training, and I thought, Wait, this guy seems really cool? What’s the story here? Truthfully, I don’t have many close friends — inside or outside of football. It takes me a really long time to open up to people. But over time, I got closer to Raheem, because our sons were born around the same time, so they would always play together. I really got to know Raheem, and I recognized what a smart and genuine person he is. He couldn’t be more different from what the tabloids were saying. This is the real truth: Raheem is one of the nicest, most humble guys I’ve met in football."

Gio Reyna: "One of these days I really need to say thank you to Sergio Agüero. For a long time I have been like, I need to play against this guy, just so that I can talk to him. Not just because my grandfather is Argentine, or because Sergio is one of my family’s favorite players, or because at the World Cup two years ago we all sat in front of the TV rooting for Argentina. Nah. I have a story to tell him. Many years ago Sergio scored a goal that gave me one of the happiest moments of my life. To understand why, you need to know about my older brother, Jack. Jack was my hero when I was a kid. Some people think that my dad, Claudio, made me a good player, since he was a pro himself. Sure, he gave me great advice and some pretty good genes. But when I was growing up in Manchester, where Dad was playing for Manchester City, the one who always played with me in the backyard was Jack. We had the old Samba goals, you know? One-on-one, nowhere to hide. I was four years old and Jack was three years older, so he would sometimes let me win by letting a few shots slip under his foot. Most of the time, though, Jack would make sure I lost. And I’d get angry. I’d kick him, bite him, fight him. Then I’d cry and run to my mum, Danielle. Those games made me grow up a lot, and Dad will tell you the same thing. My competitiveness, my feistiness, all that came from trying to beat Jack. He was the perfect brother. I was always a shy kid, so he would include me in whatever he was doing with his friends, which meant that I got used to playing against kids who were several years older. That gave me confidence. When I wasn’t around, he’d say nice things about me. When he realized that I was going to be better than he was, he pushed me to become the best I could possibly be. And if I had played a good game, he would be the first person to call me to tell how well I had played. In 2007, our family moved to New York, where Dad played for the New York Red Bulls. In the summer of 2010, Jack was diagnosed with brain cancer. He was 11 years old. At one point it looked like he was going to make it, but in December 2011, the doctors discovered that the tumor had come back. Shortly after that, when we went on a vacation to Mexico, Jack started to get sick and put on pounds because of the chemotherapy. He could still walk and swim, but he got tired very quickly. That was when I figured out that this could end in a very bad way. Over the next few months I did everything I could to help him. I had to grow up fast. He couldn’t pull himself up. There was a point where he had to wear diapers. I learned how to microwave food, I did the dishes, stuff like that. I also hung out a lot with my younger brother, Joah-Mikel, and my younger sister, Carolina, who were having a tough time, too. I just wanted to make my family happy, and to make Jack happy, of course. All of us did, especially when we knew that he only had a few months left to live. Every night at the dinner table we would tell each other stories and laugh. Every night. Somehow, even in such a devastating situation, we managed to have some fun. One day in May 2012, when Jack was 13, we gathered in the living room to watch the final day of the Premier League. I think even my grandparents were there. We are all big City fans, because Dad played there, and on that particular day City could win its first league title in 44 years by beating Queens Park Rangers at home. If City didn’t win, we had to hope that Manchester United, which was behind City only on goal differential, didn’t win either. We were all pretty positive that City was going to beat QPR, one of the smaller teams in the league. When City scored in the first half, the win, and the title, seemed like a formality. But QPR turned the game around and took the lead in the second half. Since United was winning, City needed two goals. In our living room nobody was smiling anymore. I felt bad for Jack. He was so sick at that time that he couldn’t walk or talk. Now he wasn’t going to see City win the league either. Two minutes into stoppage time Edin Džeko equalized. That gave us some hope, even though the game was almost over. Two minutes later Agüero scored the winner. You’ve seen the goal. You’ve heard the commentary. “AGÜEROOOOOOO!!” We went crazy in the living room. We were jumping around, shouting and celebrating and hugging each other. A first league title in 44 years! Won in the most incredible manner. We looked at each other in disbelief. Suddenly we heard someone gasping for air. It was Jack. He was rolling around on the floor, which came out of nowhere because he barely had any energy left in his body. We got very concerned. For 20 seconds it looked like he couldn’t breathe. Then, slowly, Jack broke into a smile and began to laugh. We realized that he was celebrating the goal. He was just as happy as we were. I’ll never forget that moment. It was so amazing, so funny, so crazy. A bit more than nine weeks later, on July 19, Jack passed away."

Who is Raheem Sterling? 🗣️ Let @DeBruyneKev tell you.

Aitana Bonmati: "Sometimes I think that this world is s***. So many people have to leave their homes without wanting to because of war, and they arrive in places like Spain and Italy with no money, no friends and without speaking the language. Some have lost a wife, a kid or a husband. Honestly, it breaks my heart. We know about Ukraine here in Europe because it’s close to us, but there are so many people struggling in all corners of the world. Women in Afghanistan cannot go to university or even leave their home alone, because they are women. How crazy is that? Tragedies like this make me realise how privileged I am. Last year I began working with the UN Refugee Agency in Spain, ACNUR. They arrange football training in Barcelona for female refugees to give them a support network here and help them integrate. That’s pretty cool, no? I always ask my teammates for spare boots and clothes that they can have. It’s not going to fix the world, but I already think it has improved quite a few lives. For me, that means a lot."

Trent Alexander-Arnold: "My brothers weren’t just my brothers, they were my best friends. As I got a bit older, and I moved up through the Liverpool academy, Tyler and Marcel willingly sacrificed their own dreams for mine. I think maybe we all realized at a young age that being a professional footballer was more realistic for me. And my parents did, too. That’s a hard thing for a young lad to understand. There were weekends when Mum couldn’t take my brothers to their matches because I had to be at the academy at a certain time — and it was always them who made the sacrifice. To this day I’m so incredibly grateful to both of them. Every step I took, we took. Every cap I got, we got. Every experience I had, we had. That’s how it works where I come from."

Homage to Henry. @Auba #AFC

Jürgen Klopp: "Sometimes people ask me why I am always smiling. Even after we lose a match, sometimes I’m still smiling. It’s because when my son was born, I realised that football is not life or death. We’re not saving lives. Football is not something that should spread misery and hatred. Football should be about inspiration and joy, especially for children. I have seen what a little round ball can do for the lives of so many of my players. The personal journeys of players and so many of my boys are absolutely incredible. The difficulties I faced as a young man in Germany were nothing compared to what they had to overcome. There were so many moments when they could’ve easily given up, but they refused to quit. They’re not gods. They just simply never gave up on their dream."

What happened to Alexandre Pato? Let him tell you.

Remember the name. @RodrygoGoes 🤍⚡️

'I go to Russia. Moscow. 17, almost 18. Really young. And alone by myself. My parents are nervous. My father, very worried. And it was hard for me. Kind of stressed, because of leaving my family.'⁠ ⁠ But when I start training, I say: I came here for what? My family name is on the shirt, so I bring my family with me. I have to work for them. Not only me. I cannot disappoint them. Have to make them proud.⁠ ⁠ So I say: Go hard.⁠ ⁠ There was a Georgian there, Saba Kvirkvelia, and he was helping me a lot. Helped with the other players, took me to eat sometimes, and was defending me sometimes. And after I start to play, the coach really loved me. I respect him so much, because I grew a lot there — physically, mentally, and even the personality.⁠ ⁠ But it was lonely. Living in the training centre. No friends. I think it was only me and the security guys. The other players lived some other place. I was alone there. I go eat alone. It was a scary place, a little bit! I’m not joking! It was in the deep forest and you cannot go out to walk there since there was some dogs and these kind of things. Every second, I was in the training centre. I didn’t go in the centre of Moscow. Nowhere.⁠ ⁠ In the night, they didn’t have lights at the training centre. When I go to train, sometimes it was night, but I am still working. Extra work. But no light. And sometimes the security guy comes. And he was scared, in the dark.⁠ ⁠ “Hey, who is running on the grass????”⁠ ⁠ Me.⁠ ⁠ Dribbling in the shadows.' ⁠ 💙✍️ - Khvicha Kvaratskhelia

Ángel Di María: 'They say that my father was an even better footballer than me, but he broke his knees when he was young, and his dream died. They say that my grandfather was even better than him, but he lost both of his legs in a train accident, and his dream died. My dream was close to dying so many times. But my father kept working under the tin roof … my mother kept pedalling … I kept running into space …'

Federico Valverde: "My wife? Mina? She is on another level! She knows the game very well, and she is Argentinian, and you know how they are. Hahahah. Whatever I do, it’s never enough. Remember when Ajax knocked us out of the Champions League? We got into the car after the match, and I was fuming, and the first thing she said to me: “Really, Fede? Are you serious? What was that? That’s how you are going to play for Real Madrid?” I said, “You think I don’t know?” She said, “You didn’t risk anything. You have to shoot. It’s the strongest part of your game.” Man, I had to crank the volume knob all the way up to drown out her analysis. The worst part — and I would never tell her this, so I hope she is not reading — the worst part is that she was right. Hahahah. Damn!"

Thank you, Ángel Di María. This is his journey 🇦🇷

Martin Ødegaard: "I’ve always had this weird connection to Arsenal. It started long before I signed. I don’t even really know how to explain it, except with one little story. I’ve never been that much into video games. I am of that generation that always played outside, but the one exception was FIFA. I mostly played Career Mode. You know, where you get to be the manager? The club I always chose to manage was Arsenal. They were my FIFA team. Growing up in Norway, I watched a lot of Premier League and I just had this good feeling about Arsenal. I’d seen clips of Thierry Henry and the Invincibles. I knew the club had a history of developing playmakers like Fabregas, Nasri, Özil — really smart, technical players, who were good on the ball and played the difficult passes. My kind of players. As I got older, around the 2015 edition, I started actually appearing in FIFA. I didn’t look much like me at first. I think I was like a 67 overall, but I was actually in the game and it was a big deal. So, naturally, one of the first things I did when I was pretending to be Arsène Wenger on Career Mode was to buy myself. Haha! Me and Arsenal. It just seemed like a good match in my head. That special connection turned into a reality when I signed here two years ago. It was a decision that changed my life around. I come into training smiling every day. But my story is definitely not Career Mode. This has been a very different journey to how I imagined it on FIFA. In real life, you can’t just select where you want to go and everything will be perfect."

What happened to Adriano? Brother, it's simple.

Antonio Rüdiger: "Where I come from, pressure is not about football. ⁠ ⁠ Pressure is not knowing what you will eat tomorrow. ⁠ ⁠ I mean …….. Pressure??? No, no, no. ⁠ ⁠ Every time I feel the slightest pressure when I lace up my boots before a football match, I think about a specific memory, and I am instantly at peace. ⁠ ⁠ The first time I ever went back to Sierra Leone with my parents after the civil war, we were riding in a taxi from the airport, and we got stuck in traffic. We were sitting there, not moving, and I was looking out the window at all the poverty and hunger. All these men and women were selling fruits and water and clothes and things by the side of the road to the people coming from the airport. ⁠ ⁠ And that’s the moment when I understood why my parents would never call our neighborhood in Berlin “the ghetto.” ⁠ ⁠ They would always say that it was heaven on earth. And it wasn’t until I went to Sierra Leone that I finally understood their perspective, because this guy came up to our car selling bread, and he looked really desperate. We said, “No, no. We’re O.K.” ⁠ ⁠ Then another guy came up to our car selling bread, and he tried to sell it to us even harder. He was talking about how fresh it was. ⁠ ⁠ “No, no. Thank you.” ⁠ ⁠ Then a third guy came up to our car selling bread, and he was really hustling. He was talking about how this was the best bread in the city, and to please, please, please buy the bread from him. ⁠ ⁠ I think about this memory when I start to feel any pressure from football. Because the truth is that all three of those guys were selling the exact same bread, from the exact same bakery, to the exact same cars. ⁠ ⁠ One of those families would have a plate of food on the table. ⁠ ⁠ The other two, maybe not. ⁠ ⁠ That is pressure. That is real life.'"

Gabriel Martinelli on his first day at Arsenal: 'I remember that I went to lunch, where I was afraid because I didn’t speak English. I would think ‘imagine if someone sat next to me and talked to me, what would I say?’ I was embarrassed right, because the person speaks, you want to speak but you can’t. I sat down to eat then Auba arrived I thought ‘now what?’ Then he sat down next to me and started talking to me in Spanish. A good guy I think that moment. I was very nervous. Like for him it was something normal, maybe he doesn’t even remember this but for me, arriving at the club now, Auba coming to talk to you, sitting at the table with you, it was something that will stay with me forever.'

Alexandre Pato: "Man … those were the days I thought I’d make it to the very top. The expectations were so great, you know? I was the supertalent, the sure thing. I was already playing for Brazil. The press writes about you, the fans talk about you, even other players hype you up. PATO WILL BE THE BEST IN THE WORLD. PATO WILL WIN THE BALLON D’OR. I loved the attention. I wanted to be talked about. But you know what happened? I began dreaming too much. Even though I was still working hard, my imagination was taking me all kinds of places. In my head I was already holding the Ballon d’Or. You can’t help it, man. It’s very hard not to get affected. Also, I had suffered like hell to get there. Why should I not enjoy it? When I became the Golden Boy as the best young player in Europe, in 2009, I didn’t think about the Ballon d’Or. I was just having fun and OPA! — a prize. I was unstoppable when I was living in the present. But my head got stuck in the future."

‘Today I know I made the right decision, absolutely.’ 🗣 Granit Xhaka

Aitana Bonmatí: "When you’re a kid growing up in Catalonia, the Pep Years belong to legend. Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Messi.… You know the team, no? I remember watching the games from a bar in Sant Pere de Ribes, the town where I grew up, a 40-minute drive from Barcelona. (Travel info: It’s next to Sitges. If you ever go, call it “Ribes.” To us locals that’s very important, hahaha.) I would zoom in on Xavi and Iniesta: How they moved, how they created chances, how they scanned the space around them before receiving the ball. Iniesta was always driving the ball forward, so I tried to do that. Today I feel I have the same way of understanding the game. The Barça Way, if you want to call it that. I still follow Pep, wherever he works, because I love his football. When he wins, I am happy — except if it is against Barça."

Granit Xhaka's story at Arsenal. In his own words 🧵

‘It’s been a hell of a long road, but I’m living my dream. I’m home. And the best is yet to come.’ This is Martin Ødegaard’s story. theplayerstribune.com/posts/…

"I am a brutally honest person. So I will let you in on a little secret." @DeBruyneKev did not hold back. This is his story. playerstribu.ne/KevinDeBruyn…

Antonio Rüdiger: "When Tuchel came in as manager and gave me a chance, it was a new life for me. Actually, he did something right away that I think a lot of managers could learn from. It had nothing to do with tactics. He just came up to me and he said, “Toni, tell me about yourself.” He wanted to know where my aggression and hunger came from, and I told him about growing up in Berlin-Neukölln and how I used to play so hard on the concrete pitches that all the older kids started calling me “Rambo.” He asked about me, as a person. That was big. When Tuchel gave me a chance, I had so much motivation that I was never going back to the bench. I had made up my mind that I was going to give 200% to this club, to this badge — despite everything that was said about me. For me, after everything I endured, the Champions League was just the pineapple on top of the cake."

Let @gabimartinelli tell you what Arsenal is all about 🗣

Granit Xhaka: "When Mikel was appointed, I told him that I wanted to leave. He understood completely. We had a second chat a few days later, and when I went in, I had talked it through with my wife. Our suitcases were literally placed by the door. When I have made a decision like that, it is very difficult to change my mind. But then Mikel began to talk about how I was a big part of his plans. I liked his warmth. He was honest, straight. Clear plans. I felt I could trust him. He told me to give him six months to prove me wrong, and then if I still wanted to leave, no problem. Normally I spend a lot of time making these decisions. I talk to everyone around me, I weigh up the pros and cons. But that day I broke my own rules. I told Mikel, “O.K.” I called my wife and my parents. “We’re staying.” They were like, “No way.” I said, “Yes. Unpack the bags. This is a new challenge. Either you are with me, or I’ll go it alone, because I will go through with this.” Of course, they were with me. But it was so hard, man. All this s*** had happened. All these people were saying, “Why don’t you leave already!” My dad was telling me, “It’s over.” So why go back? Because I felt I was big enough to make this decision on my own. Was I going to let these people have it their way? These people who think I am worthless? Who hate me? No. That’s not who I am. My head had left Arsenal, but my heart had not. My heart was telling me, You can’t leave this football club like this. Mikel and I didn’t speak about my future again, because after six months I was happy. Today I know I made the right decision, absolutely."

CAMPEONES! @RodrygoGoes 🤍⚡️

'I wanted to go to City. Every single day, literally for three weeks, my agent was saying, “It’s on. Wait, it’s off. It’s on. Wait, it’s off again.”⁠ ⁠ The stress really had an effect on my wife. One morning we woke up and she was really, really ill. We didn’t know what to do. We were worried that maybe there was something wrong with the baby.⁠ ⁠ Then she was in a lot of pain, and she was bleeding. We had no idea what was happening, so we rushed to the hospital. We were worried that maybe she’d lost the baby. It was the worst moment of my life, no question. You’re just sitting there, helpless. One minute, all you’re thinking about is a football transfer. And then, all of a sudden, your world is upside down.⁠ ⁠ Thank God, in the end, everything was O.K. with our son.⁠ ⁠ That was the third life-changing moment for me, because it made me realize that football is not life or death. I think I was probably too consumed by football for the first 23 years of my life. But when I met my wife, and especially after our first son was born, I was not doing it alone anymore. When we started our family and I came to play for City, everything just took off.⁠ ⁠ Pep and I share a similar mentality. To be fair, he’s even more intense about football than I am. He’s so, so stressed — all the time. However much mental stress we are under as players, I think he is under twice as much. Because he is not just interested in winning. He wants perfection.⁠ ⁠ The first meeting I ever had with Pep, he sat me down and he said, “Kevin, listen. You can be — easily — a top five player in the world. Top five. Easily.”⁠ ⁠ I was shocked. But when Pep said it with so much belief, it changed my whole mentality. It was kind of genius, I think. Because I felt like I had to prove him right, instead of prove him wrong.⁠ ⁠ Most of the time, football is about negativity and fear. But with Pep, it’s about extreme positivity. He sets goals that are so high that they’re almost impossible to reach. He is a tactical master, yes. There’s no doubt about this. But what people on the outside don’t see is the pressure he puts on himself to try to achieve perfection.' ⁠ 🩵 @KevinDeBruyne

Bruno Guimarães: "The number tells a story more beautiful than words can say. 39. I know people think it’s a weird number for a footballer. But for me 39 is special — no, it’s more than that. It's magical. The number 39 gave me everything in life. It got me here to Newcastle. It fed me, clothed me, and paid for three-hour bus rides to pursue my dream. #039 was the dispatch number of my father’s taxi in Rio de Janeiro."

🤍⚡️ @RodrygoGoes

Trent Alexander-Arnold: "When I see a young lad wearing 66, it still means everything to me. Everybody that owns my kit, everybody that owns any Liverpool kit — I owe them something. I owe them my best. Because I’m one of them. We’re family. That’s what our manager is all about. Lots of people see Jürgen Klopp and think they know what he’s about, or think they know him. But they don’t see everything. The pace that we play with, the relentlessness, it’s a product of the work ethic that he and his coaching staff bring to training every day. Every single day. He’s been here for a while now, and we just don’t know any other way. The thing that separates him from other managers is pretty simple, I think: He makes sure that we play for the supporters. I know that might sound cliché, but it’s really not. Our style, our identity, they’re what Anfield wants — they’re what I loved to watch as a boy. That’s how you create real unity."

This is a story about Pep. And life. @IlkayGuendogan

Fikayo Tomori: "When I was growing up in London, it felt like the only English players playing abroad were David Beckham and Owen Hargreaves. It wasn’t a real option. And this wasn’t just any club, it was AC Milan. But then I spoke to some of the boys at Chelsea who’d been in Italy — Toni Rüdiger, Mateo Kovacic and Emerson. Toni had been at Roma, and he was always going on and on about how good the support was. He came up to me like, “So you going to Milan? Listen, if you’ve got the chance, you go. “The fans … it’s just different in Italy. It’s crazy. I was the man there, you know? Just give everything and they’re gonna love you.” Then there was Thiago Silva. He didn’t even speak English, but when he heard what we were talking about he just went, “Milan?” and gave a massive thumbs up! Hahaha! I was like, O.K., get me on that plane! When I went over to sign in January of 2021, they gave me a tour around the museum. There are so many trophies you can’t even take it all in. Champions Leagues and Ballon d’Ors everywhere. I’m looking around at the photos on the walls like, Rah … this is proper. There’s Shevchenko, there’s Kaká, Nesta, Ibra, Pirlo, Ronaldinho … and those are just a handful of the ones that I’m old enough to remember watching as a kid. The moment that really hit home though was when they handed me this bag with my tracksuit in it. When I took it out, I just stared at the Milan badge. I think Dad realised I was still struggling to actually process everything. He looked at me and said: “You play for AC Milan.” Every time I see my tracksuit, I still get a special feeling. I still say to myself, “I play for AC Milan.”"

'I have never believed that we should just 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑜𝑜𝑡𝑏𝑎𝑙𝑙.' Ahead of Euro 2020, @GarethSouthgate pens a letter to England. theplayerstribune.com/posts/…

'I was called up for the Brazil national team and he [Mourinho] said, 'You won't come back...'. 'Yeah, you already know it'. And I actually didn't go back.' @A10imperador explains his relationship with Massimo Moratti and how he left @Inter_en Welcome to @TPT_Brasil. 🇧🇷

'I came a long way to get here, and I don’t want to stop now. There are millions of Brazilian kids who are trying to go the same way. To those kids I just want to repeat the advice that I got five years ago. Never give up. It’s the fighters who make it.' @richarlison97 🇧🇷

Let Hirving Lozano tell you about Carlo Ancelotti.

Jürgen Klopp: "Sometimes people ask me why I am always smiling. Even after we lose a match, sometimes I’m still smiling. It’s because when my son was born, I realised that football is not life or death. We’re not saving lives. Football is not something that should spread misery and hatred. Football should be about inspiration and joy, especially for children. I have seen what a little round ball can do for the lives of so many of my players. The personal journeys of players and so many of my boys are absolutely incredible. The difficulties I faced as a young man in Germany were nothing compared to what they had to overcome. There were so many moments when they could’ve easily given up, but they refused to quit. They’re not gods. They just simply never gave up on their dream."

‘For me, it’s the most joy that I can have in life.’ 🗣 @KevinDeBruyne

Gianluigi Buffon to his younger self: 'On one hand, it’s true that a keeper needs confidence. He needs to be fearless. If you give a manager the choice between the greatest technical keeper in the world, and the most fearless keeper in the world, I guarantee you that he will choose the fearless bastard every single time. On the other hand, a person who is fearless can easily forget that they have a mind. If you live your life in a nihilistic way, thinking only about football, your soul will start to wither. Eventually, you will become so depressed that you won’t even want to leave your bed. You can laugh if you want, but this will happen to you. It will happen at the height of your career, when you have everything a man could ever want in life. You will be 26 years old. The keeper of Juventus and the Italian national team. You will have money and respect. People will even call you Superman. But you’re no superhero. You’re just a man like anyone else.'

Carlo Ancelotti is a great coach, but he’s an even better person. 🗣️ Hirving Lozano

Bruno Guimarães: "I've never heard many footballers talk about this, but when I started playing on a real team, I thought I sucked. I used to get so worked up the night before football that I’d have stomach pains and start throwing up. I’d get a headache and a fever sometimes and wouldn’t be able to fall asleep. When I played, instead of playing free, I worried about messing up. Whenever I played a real game, it was like my heart was always beating faster. It was a psychological block. Then, when I was 11 years old, I was playing in a random game in the sports hall, and I didn’t think anyone was watching. Of course, since I was playing for fun with my friends, I was a beast. I didn’t realise, but my coach, Mário Jorge, was watching from behind the bar with all the older guys. After the game, he walked out onto the court and he said, “Bruno, let me ask you a question. Why do you never play like this in a real game?” I said, “I don’t know, Coach. I don’t feel comfortable. It's complicated.” He said, “Listen, don’t worry about all that. Just play like it’s for fun, and see what happens.” I had a conversation with my dad after that, and I told him the truth. I asked him to stop putting so much pressure on me when I played, because it was making me too tense. When it’s your hero pushing you, sometimes it’s too much. Thank God, my father took it really well, and from that day, everything changed. When I played, I would tell myself, “Hey, it’s football. Just play like we’re using flip-flops for goals.”"

Martin Ødegaard: "If there’s anyone left who still doesn’t fully believe in this team, take it from me: there are no limits on what we can achieve. No one can tell me otherwise. I’m so proud to be captain of this club and I feel like I’m going to be here a long time."

The Mikel Arteta effect. Let Martin Ødegaard explain 🧵

🇧🇷✨ @RodrygoGoes @antony00

Martin Ødegaard: "As soon as you get famous, people expect you to be a certain way. Like you’re this superhero, who can do anything. You can play football, so you also must be able to speak well, be confident, give everything of yourself at all times. But that’s not realistic. I think that Real Madrid press conference helped people connect to what I was going through. I was just this shy little kid. I mean, have you met a 16-year-old recently? They felt for me and saw how normal I was. A few days after the presentation, I went into training for the first time and, honestly, that was just surreal. I’m not old enough to drive, so my dad actually has to bring me in to play with Isco and Ronaldo and Ramos and Modric and Bale and Benzema, like he’s dropping me off at school. All I’m thinking is about how these guys will treat me when I walk into their dressing room. This little kid who didn’t speak any Spanish. But they were all very kind, and the ones who spoke English — Kroos, Modric, Ronaldo — took extra care of me in the beginning. They gave me advice and helped me a lot. But honestly I don’t think any of them were particularly worried about a 16-year-old from Norway taking their place in the team. We made this plan with the club that I would train every day with the first team but get regular game time with the B team. It seemed like a smart plan at the time, but it worked out that I ended up not finding my place with either group. With the B team, I wasn’t with them regularly so I didn’t find that connection. In the first team, I was just some kid who came to train. I wasn’t involved in matches. I felt a bit like an outsider. I was stuck in between. I stopped playing with the spark that was typical of my game. I went a bit too safe for a time. I was worrying more about not making mistakes than actually playing my game. And my game was always about making a difference. Playing the difficult pass. I can understand why it happened now. I was still a little kid, but I’ve learned that you have to be ruthless. You have to not give a f***. You have to show the real you on the pitch."

Ilkay Gündoğan: "I remember one time, I was hanging out with a friend of mine when we remembered that it was Pep’s birthday. So my friend suggested that we give him a present. Pep was actually my neighbour in Manchester, so we bought a bottle of champagne, my friend wrote him a card in Spanish, and then he went to knock on his door. When he came back, he said that Pep had been very happy about it. Anyway, I went back to the cinema room and kind of forgot about it. About half an hour later, there was a knock on the door. I was like, “Who the f*** is this?” I thought my friend had ordered pizza or something. My friend opened the door, and it was Pep! He said, “Where’s Gundo?” (He calls me Gundo.) We were both really surprised, because Pep is such a private guy. We had seen him around in the elevator and stuff, but he had never been in my apartment. He had brought the champagne bottle and three glasses. He ended up staying for an hour or so, just to chill. It reminded me that, even though we play football, this profession is also about humans, you know? And I think that, when I end my career, what I will remember the most are the people I shared it with. I guess you could say the same thing about life."

The journey to @Arsenal captain. Martin Ødegaard, in his own words. piped.video/-vxsJhNtdto

"They are making these monkey sounds at me. But what is this?” @kkoulibaly26 No footballer, no human being, should ever have to go through this. #SayNoToRacism NOW

Adriano: 'Not all injuries are physical, you understand? When I popped my Achilles in 2011? Man, I knew that’s when it was over for me, physically. You can get surgery and rehabilitate it and try to carry on, but you will never be the same. My explosiveness was gone. My balance was gone. Shit, I still walk with a limp. I still have a hole in my ankle. It was the same thing when my father died. Except the scar was inside me. “Man, what happened to Adriano?” Brother, it’s simple. I have a hole in my ankle, and one in my soul.'

Robert Lewandowski: "Jürgen was not only a father figure to me. As a coach, he was like the “bad” teacher. And I mean that in the best sense of the word. Let me explain. Think back to you when you were in school. Which teacher do you remember the most? Not the one who made life easy for you and never expected anything from you. No, no, no. You remember the bad teacher, the one who was strict with you. The one who put pressure on you and did everything to get the best out of you. That’s the teacher who made you better, right? And Jürgen was like that. He was not content to let you be a B student, you know? Jürgen wanted A+ students. He didn’t want it for him. He wanted it for you. He taught me so much. When I arrived at Dortmund, I wanted to do everything quickly: strong pass, one touch only. Jürgen showed me to calm down — to take two touches if necessary. It was totally against my nature, but soon I was scoring more goals. When I had that down, he challenged me to speed it up again. One touch. BANG. Goal. He slowed me down to speed me up. It sounds simple, but it was genius, really."

Martin Ødegaard: "I’ve always had this weird connection to Arsenal. It started long before I signed. I don’t even really know how to explain it, except with one little story. I’ve never been that much into video games. I am of that generation that always played outside, but the one exception was FIFA. I mostly played Career Mode. You know, where you get to be the manager? The club I always chose to manage was Arsenal. They were my FIFA team. Growing up in Norway, I watched a lot of Premier League and I just had this good feeling about Arsenal. I’d seen clips of Thierry Henry and the Invincibles. I knew the club had a history of developing playmakers like Fabregas, Nasri, Özil — really smart, technical players, who were good on the ball and played the difficult passes. My kind of players. As I got older, around the 2015 edition, I started actually appearing in FIFA. I didn’t look much like me at first. I think I was like a 67 overall, but I was actually in the game and it was a big deal. So, naturally, one of the first things I did when I was pretending to be Arsène Wenger on Career Mode was to buy myself. Haha! Me and Arsenal. It just seemed like a good match in my head. That special connection turned into a reality when I signed here. It was a decision that changed my life around."

Raphinha: "When I was 18, I had been rejected by the academies more times than I could bother to count. Internacional, Grêmio, everywhere it was the same: a one-week trial and then an excuse. “He’s too small.” “He’s too frail.” “He’s got no power.” Always the same, man. Always the same. Just before I turned 19, I was training with the U-20 team at Avaí. They were based in Florianópolis, a six-hour drive north of Porto Alegre. I had never spent so much time away from home trying to get a contract. But then I got injured, and when I was fit again, I couldn’t get into the team. I didn’t even make the matchday squad. They told me to train on my own. Usually I would have gone back to the várzea community, because that was my home. I played well there. Nobody there told me that I was too small. In fact, I would often hear that, hey, if I really, really wanted it, I’d make it as a pro. But at Avaí I cracked. I called my parents and said that I’d had enough. I wanted to go home. I was done. My dad said he was fine with it. My mum, too. “But,” my mum added … “If you give up on your dream, you’ll have to get a normal job.” I was like, Hmmmmmm…. The thing was, I had wanted to be a footballer since I was seven, so I never finished school. Which meant that I would have to find a job in a supermarket or a barber shop or something. I knew what that life was about, because my mum had changed jobs so many times. Her CV must have been the length of a book. Hairdresser, manicurist, seller of perfumes and clothes, receptionist, waiter, etc., etc., etc. Finally she saved enough money to get a degree, and now she was doing what she loved, which was to work with children who had learning difficulties. She never gave up, you know? So she explained it all to me. She said that I would end up playing somewhere, and that every tough moment passes. She suggested that maybe, due to all these setbacks, I had forgotten what I really wanted in life, which was true. By the time we hung up, I remembered."

'One moment I’ll never forget was in 2017 when we played a Champions League match against Manchester City at the Etihad. It was the crazy game that ended 5–3, and as I was going for some interviews in the tunnel, I ran into Pep Guardiola. I didn’t even think he would look at me, but he stopped and shook my hand and told me that I’d played a great game. We spoke for a bit, and it was just unbelievable because I had admired him so much for the way his teams always played football in such a creative way. It was exactly my style of football.⁠ ⁠ It’s funny, because when that season ended there were so many rumors that all the young Monaco players were going to be sold. I had become good friends with Kylian Mbappe, and we were being linked to Manchester City and Chelsea and PSG and a bunch of different clubs. The rumors these days are so ridiculous that you don’t know what to believe. So we would joke around every day on our WhatsApp group.⁠ ⁠ But, in the end, I was the one who won our little game, because I was the first to be sold. For me, there is no better place to be than Man City. A lot has been written about Pep, but I still don’t think people fully understand how much he is a master of details. Before games he often says that he is giving us the map, but that we have to solve the riddles out on the pitch. For anyone who is obsessed with football, he’s the perfect manager to learn from. I wake up every day so happy to be playing football here.' ⁠ ✨ @BernardoCSilva

'The opportunity to play with Leo Messi, the extraterrestrial, the genius. The most fun I’ve ever had playing football. All I had to do was run into space. I would start running, and the ball would arrive at my feet. Like magic.' 🗣️ Ángel Di María

Welcome to Liverpool, @Darwinn99

Rugby player. Team GB Powerlifter. @ManUtd fan. Allow @JesseLingard to introduce you to his grandad....

🇧🇷🤍 @RodrygoGoes @vinijr

It’s 🥇 for @richarlison97 and Brazil! 🇧🇷 #Olympics

It’s time for Granit Xhaka to set the record straight. Coming soon. 13/04/22

Ángel Di María: 'The 2008 Olympics changed my whole life. Argentina called me to play for the team even though I wasn’t starting for Benfica. I will never forget that. That tournament gave me the opportunity to play with Leo Messi, the extraterrestrial, the genius. It was the most fun I’ve ever had playing football. All I had to do was run into space. I would start running, and the ball would arrive at my feet. Like magic. Leo’s eyes don’t work like your eyes and my eyes work. They look side to side, like a human. But he’s also able to see the world from above, like a bird. I don’t understand how it’s possible.'

Who is Pep? Let @KevinDeBruyne tell you.

Nothing but respect. @RomeluLukaku9 @DeBruyneKev

Ángel Di María: "It was the morning of the 2014 World Cup Final, at exactly 11 a.m., and I was sitting on the trainer’s table about to get an injection in my leg. I had torn my thigh muscle in the quarterfinals, but with painkillers, I could run without feeling anything. I told our trainers these exact words: “If I break, then let me keep breaking. I don’t care. I just want to be able to play.” So I was putting ice on my leg when our team doctor, Daniel Martínez, came into the room holding this envelope, and he said, “Look, Ángel, this paper came from Real Madrid.” I said, “What are you talking about?” He said, “Well, they’re saying you’re not in any condition to play. So they are forcing us to not let you play today.” I immediately knew what was happening. Everybody had heard the rumors that Real wanted to sign James Rodríguez after the World Cup, and I knew that they were going to sell me to make room for him. So they didn’t want their asset to be damaged. It was that simple. That’s the business of football that people do not always see. I told Daniel to give me the letter. I didn’t even open it. I just ripped it into pieces and said, “Throw it away. The one who decides here is me.” I had not slept much the night before. Part of the reason was that the Brazilian fans were setting off huge fireworks outside of our hotel all night long, but even if it had been completely quiet, I don’t think I would’ve been able to sleep. It is impossible to explain the feeling you have on the night before a World Cup Final, when everything you ever dreamed about is right in front of your eyes. I sincerely wanted to play that day even if it ended my career. But I also didn’t want to make things complicated for our team. So I woke up early that morning and went to see our manager, Mr. Sabella. We had a very close relationship, so if I told him that I wanted to start, I knew that he would feel the pressure to put me in. I told him sincerely, with my hand on my heart, that he should put in the player that he felt he had to put in. I said, “If it’s me, it’s me. If it’s another, then it’s another. I just want to win the World Cup. If you call on me, I will play until I break.” And then I started crying. I couldn’t help it. The moment had overwhelmed me. When we had our team talk before the match, Sabella announced that Enzo Pérez was going to start, because he was 100% healthy. I was at peace with that decision. I treated myself with an injection before the match, and again during the second half, so that I would be ready to play if I was called from the bench. But the call never came. We lost the World Cup, and I couldn’t control anything. It was the most difficult day of my life. After the match, the media were saying ugly things about why I didn’t play. But what I’m telling you is the absolute truth. What still haunts me is the moment when I went to speak to Sabella, and I broke down in tears in front of him. Because I will always wonder if he thought that I was crying because I was nervous. In truth, it had nothing to do with nerves. I was overcome with emotion because of how much the moment meant to me. We were so close to achieving the impossible dream."

Happy birthday to our friend, @RodrygoGoes! 🤍⚡️

Martin Ødegaard: "I’m so proud to be captain of this club and I feel like I’m going to be here a long time. After the win over West Ham on Boxing Day, I got the chance to speak to Wenger — it was the first time he’d been back to the Emirates since 2018, and the first time I’d seen him since that steak and fries all those years ago. We had a good chat and he mentioned that he’d kept a close eye on my career even after I chose Madrid. He was honest and said that at one point he was actually worried about the way things were going for me, but now he’s so happy to see me doing well in the right environment. He’d recognised something. Ever since I left Norway, it’s like everything has felt sort of temporary. I haven’t had that stability, that real deep connection, until now, and that’s so important. Whenever I lead the team out at the Emirates, I have this moment to myself. I want to really feel that atmosphere, that electricity from the fans. I always listen as they play North London Forever over the speakers and I start singing along under my breath. I get goosebumps every time. I close my eyes, and I think about myself as a kid out on the artificial pitch in Drammen. If you’d have shown that kid a snapshot of this moment and told him this was in his future? He would have died for this. It’s been a hell of a long road, but I’m living my dream. I’m home. And the best is yet to come."

CAMPEÃO! @RodrygoGoes 🤍🏆

Serge Gnabry: "You’re 15 and you’re still asking your parents for allowance money. Then you’re 17 or 18 and you’re making more money than your whole family. Imagine that. You just can’t cope with it. I remember when I broke into the first team, I started spending my money on so much unnecessary stuff. The £600 toiletry bag. The sparkly Christian Louboutins from back in the day. The Rolex. That’s the one that broke my parents. That’s what made them sit me down for a chat. They could feel something coming. I literally remember my mum saying, “Serge, you know … this might not be forever. You can’t be spending money like this. You need to stay grounded, because everyone falls down at some point.” Literally, a few weeks after that conversation, I went down. Everything kind of fell apart. I injured my knee, and I couldn’t do anything for about eight months. Time was just frozen. When I finally got back to the pitch, I couldn’t get into the squad. All of a sudden, I was going out on loan at West Brom. It was like my mum saw the future."

Ronaldinho said this about Lionel Messi. In a letter to his younger self.

“The stuff that gets written about me — 90% of it is false. The problem is when people start to believe them.” Marcus Rashford opens up on his journey, the media and his hopes for the rest of the season.

This is Granit Xhaka, setting it straight. piped.video/ochcH6Pa2IQ

‘If life is a game, I have won.’ Happy birthday, @Pato.

“I would say proud, when you say Arsenal.” Martin Ødegaard ❤️

If you can play in the várzea games, you can play anywhere. 🗣️ Raphinha

Aitana Bonmatí: 'Playing for Barça is very intense. There is always the next training session, the next game, the next trophy. Every year the goal is the same: Win everything. One day when my career is over, I’m going to travel the world for a year or two, and immerse myself in places like Colombia and Japan. But right now I want to keep winning. I love this pressure, the feeling that you cannot fail, that you have to demand the best of yourself every single day. It has become part of who I am. I’ll be giving 200% to help the team at this World Cup. And as always, I’ll be out there playing the football I learned from Xavi and Iniesta. The way I like the most.'

🗣️ Let @DaniAlvesD2 tell you a story about Lionel Messi.

🗣️ Let Martin Ødegaard tell you about Mikel Arteta.

Romelu Lukaku: "I played with so much anger, because of a lot of things … because of the rats running around in our apartment … because I couldn’t watch the Champions League … because of how the other parents used to look at me. I was on a mission. When I was 12, I scored 76 goals in 34 games. I scored them all wearing my dad’s shoes. Once our feet got to be the same size, we used to share. One day I called up my grandfather — my mum’s dad. He was one of the most important people in my life. He was my connection back to Congo, where my mum and dad are from. So I was on the phone with him one day, and I said, “Yeah, I’m doing really well. I scored 76 goals, and we won the league. The big teams are noticing me.” And usually, he always wanted to hear about my football. But this time it was strange. He said, “Yeah, Rom. Yeah, that’s great. But can you do me a favor?” I said, “Yeah, what is it?” He said, “Can you look after my daughter, please?” I remember being so confused. Like, what’s Grandad on about? I said, “Mum? Yeah, we’re cool. We’re O.K.” He said, “No, promise me. Can you promise me? Just look after my daughter. Just look after her for me, O.K.?” I said, “Yeah, Granddad. I got it. I promise you.” Five days later he passed away. And then I understood what he really meant. It makes me so sad to think about, because I just wish that he could have lived another four years to see me play for Anderlecht. To see that I kept my promise, you know? To see that everything was going to be O.K. I told my mum that I would make it at 16. I was late by 11 days."

Ronaldinho to his younger self: "You’re not going to feel sadness right away. That will come later. A few years from now, you will accept that Dad is never coming back on earth. But what I want you to understand is that every time you have a ball at your feet, Dad will be with you. When you have a football at your feet, you are free. You are happy. It’s almost like you are hearing music. That feeling will make you want to spread joy to others."

What's @sterling7 all about? Let him tell you:

Edinson Cavani: "When you’re a child, you have this illusion that the person who is the most successful is the one with the most possessions. When you grow up, you realise that the person who is the most successful is the one with the wisdom to live life. When you make it as a professional, you’ll have everything you could ever dream of. And for this you must be extremely, extremely thankful. But I have to be honest with you, Pelado. There is only one place that you can still have total freedom. It lasts about 90 minutes, if you’re lucky. When you put on your boots … no matter if you’re playing on the dirt in Salto, or on the green grass in Naples, or in front of millions of people at the World Cup … I want you to remember the words of your father. What does he always tell you, before you go out to play a game? I know you know the words. He says, “The moment you cross that white line and go onto the pitch, it’s just football there. Nothing that is going on outside that white line will help you with what’s going on inside. Nothing else exists.” If you listen to those words, and you really believe them in your soul, then sometimes, even when the pressure is immense, and even when you are playing in front of millions … you will walk out onto the pitch and it will feel as though you’re not even wearing boots."

Dejan Kulusevski: "I already know that the day I leave Spurs, the part I’ll miss the most is the dressing room. I think a lot of our family atmosphere is down to Ange. Ange is brave, and he makes you brave. He doesn’t say a lot, but when he speaks, we can listen for hours. You can tell that he’s been through a lot, and he often talks about what he learned from his father. He is different from any other coach I’ve had. Everybody talks about tactics and winning, and that’s good, but with Ange it means a little bit more, because it’s about you as a person. It’s about you as a man and what you believe in. Ange says, “I don’t care if we lose, because everyone loses in life. If we lose, we’re going to lose on our terms. Never go away from being you.” And that’s how I want to live my life. O.K., we’re gonna face the best, but we’re gonna do it our way. We’re gonna play like we did all our lives. Let me be clear: We want to win. We are fighting so hard to give you the trophies you deserve. We train for you, we eat for you, we sleep for you. We know that this club changes lives. It’s a huge deal to me when I see people wearing my shirt, because that means we connect on some level. And I still find it incredible that I can simply score a goal and send 60,000 people home happy. But we are also a young team with many new players. We’re not gonna win every game. And actually, Ange never speaks about trophies. He says, “Yes, we’ll get there, but first of all we have to become us. We have to find ourselves.”"

4 countries. 25 trophies. Happy birthday, José Mourinho.

The Pep Guardiola effect. 🗣️ @DeBruyneKev explains.

"I’m probably the only lad in history to lose £46,000 lying in bed on a Wednesday night in Blackpool." Addiction. Heartbreak. Finding peace at @CPFC. @andros_townsend opens up like never before. playerstribu.ne/AndrosTownse…

🗣️ Jorginho has a message for all the dreamers.

🗣️ Raphinha was made for the big stage.

“You wake up in the morning, and the magic was all real. You actually knocked down Drago. It really happened.” Jürgen Klopp on failure, embarrassment, and yes … THAT night at Anfield. playerstribu.ne/JurgenKlopp

Kylian Mbappé: "Right before my 14th birthday, I got an incredible surprise. My father received a call from someone at Real Madrid, inviting me to come to Spain for a training session over the holiday break. It was a shock, because they actually told my father, “Zidane would like to see your son.” At the time, Zizou was the sporting director. Of course, I was over the moon. I was desperate to go. But it was not so simple, actually, because scouts were starting to come to our matches, and I was getting some attention from the media. When you’re 13 years old, you don’t know how to handle it. There was a lot of pressure, and my family wanted to protect me. But it was actually my 14th birthday that week, and what I didn’t know is that my parents were organizing everything with the club so that they could take me to Madrid as a present. Quite a surprise for me!? And believe it or not, we didn’t tell anyone where we were going. I didn’t even tell my closest friends, because I was too nervous. If things didn’t go well, I didn’t want to come back to my neighborhood and disappoint them. I will never forget the moment that we arrived at the training center from the airport. Zidane met us in the parking lot by his car, and it was a really nice car, of course. We said hello, and then he offered to drive me over to the field for training. He was pointing at the front seat, like, “Go on, get in.” But I just froze and I asked,“Should I take off my shoes?” Hahaha! I don’t know why I said that. But it was Zizou’s car! He thought that was really funny. He said, “Of course not, come on, get in.” He drove me to the training pitch, and I was just thinking to myself, I am in Zizou’s car. I am Kylian from Bondy. This is not real. I must still be sleeping on the airplane. Sometimes, even when you are really living something, it feels like a dream."

Remember The Name, @armandobroja9 🇦🇱 piped.video/C3pKOUNvAs0

“This is the real truth: Raheem is one of the nicest, most humble guys I’ve met in football.” @DeBruyneKev on @sterling7, Mourinho, Pep and more. theplayerstribune.com/global…

Adriano: “To this day, Inter is my club. I love Flamengo, São Paulo, Corinthians ... I love many of the places I have played, but Inter is something special for me. The Italian press? O.K., that’s another story. Hahahaha. But Inter the club? The best, man. The song still gives me goosebumps when I remember how they used to sing it at San Siro. Che confusione Sarà perché tifiamo Un giocatore Che tira bombe a mano Siam Tutti in piedi per questo brasiliano batti le mani che in campo c’è Adriano “We are all standing for this Brazilian.” Damn, man. A favela guy like me? I’m the Emperor of Italy? I had not even done much yet, and everyone was treating me like a king. It was crazy. I remember my family all coming over from Rio to visit me, and when I say my family, you don’t understand what I mean, bro. I mean my family. Brazilian style. I’m not talking about just mom and dad, I’m talking about 44 people, man! Cousins! Aunts! Uncles! My boys! The whole neighborhood got on that airplane. So the news got to the club president, Mr. Moratti (the legend!!) And Mr. Moratti said, “Hey, this is a special moment for the kid. Let’s get a bus for his family.” Moratti had his people secure a whole tour bus for them. Can you imagine, 44 Brazilians on tour in Italy? Hahaha! It was a scene, bro. It was party time. This is the reason why I will never say a bad word about Mr. Moratti, or about Inter. Every club should be run like that. He cared about me as a person.”

🇧🇷⚡️ @RodrygoGoes

Happy 30th birthday, @DeBruyneKev. ✨

'I hope that people will get to know me — really know me — as a guy who has done all he can to help his teammates. Because that, really, is why I’m here.' 🗣️ @kepa_46

From the parks and streets of Manchester to Pep Guardiola's @ManCity team. Remember The Name, Cole Palmer. ⚡️ piped.video/2VuQQMKpr6M

G R I E Z M A N N 🇫🇷