“There’s just something about Highbury that is difficult to describe. When you first arrive, you hardly see the stadium and wonder where it is but then you find it between two blocks of flats.”

Quite simply, it is true that I can be a pig! It is not a lie to say that. Sometimes, I feel that I am in the right even when I am wrong.

I always think about what I missed, and I think that was my driving force – never be satisfied with what I’ve done.

I take the ball, I go wide, I cross, I shoot, but when the moment beckons, I am ready to make the difference.

Everybody knows how much I love Arsenal – I became a fan. And to be out here celebrating a goal against Tottenham, there’s not much else to say after thatLike I’ve said before, Once a Gooner, always a Gooner.

It was tough at the time but when I was younger, my Dad. I would say my Dad, because without him I wouldn’t have been here. I mean it was tough for me because he was really demanding. With him, it was never enough, you know, anything I did was never enough.

Sometimes in football you have to score goals.

I only deal in what is real. To be honest, I’ve never thought about what I could get out of football or where it would take me. I just wanted to play. I’m the same now.

That’s the way I’ve been educated: I always think about what I missed and the things that you did, you did them, so you don’t have to think about them any more.

So many people say that obviously my game has changed since I arrived here and I say that it’s good that it changed, otherwise it would show a lack of intelligence.

We all love the first Rocky, but I’m not too sure about the last one.

Barcelona is always a club that, at the beginning of the season, wants to win everything. I will try my best to do that with them and I’m sure I will help as much as I can.

I would love this place to be my garden. (on Arsenal’s old stadium)

I can’t think of a striker in the world who has scored so many important goals, never mind a midfielder.

I have the possibility to watch Messi in training each morning, and because of what he demonstrates he is the best player in the world

At the end of the day, you either want or you don’t want to know about it. It’s a mercy thing – you have to give back. However you do it, you have to give something back. You have to.

In football you always get judged on your last game. Whoever you are, or how amazing you are, it’s the last game that everyone has seen.

Only those who have the patience to do simple things perfectly will acquire the skill to do difficult things easily.

It is difficult to discriminate the voice of truth from amid the clamor raised by heated partisans.

I think that the most difficult thing is allowing yourself to be loved, so receiving the love and feeling like you deserve it is a pretty big struggle. I suppose that’s what I’ve learnt recently, to allow myself to be loved.

He who graduates the harshest school, succeeds.

The more difficult it is to forgive someone the greater the opportunity for spiritual growth.

when pain has been intertwined with love and closeness, it’s very difficult to believe that love and closeness can be experienced without pain.

I just managed to convince my grandmother that it was a worth while that was something to do, you know, and when I did finally get the guitar, it didn’t seem that difficult to me, to be able to make a good noise out of it.

I realized, the older I get, the more difficult life becomes. It’s not easier, it’s more difficult.