You cannot play with Riquelme without playing for Riquelme.

The bacillus of efficiency has also attacked football, and some dare to ask what's the point in playing well. I feel tempted to tell about the time they dared to ask Borges what is poetry for, to which he answered: 'What is a sunrise for? What are caresses for? What is the smell of coffee for?'

Every time I set foot on the Bernabeu turf I got the jitters, a kind of anxiety that takes hold of you the moment you step out into the glare of the floodlights.