Neymar Jr: "When I was at Santos they compared me to Messi, I liked that comparison, but when I came to Barcelona and saw how he plays and what he does I knew that I was far from being compared to him, I said to myself 'Forget it, you have to learn from him now.' "Messi doesn't train a lot, you can wake him up in the middle of the night for a match, he will come from bed to the pitch, he will score, he will win and he will go back to sleep, because he is a talent, that's all, he helped me a lot, he wanted me to be better than him, he never thought about himself, he helps everyone, that's why he is loved by everyone."

Robben as a linesman in his son's football match. Legend 👏

Didier Drogba on preparing to face Barcelona in 2012: “Di Matteo would give us a list of the opposition’s top scorers. We’d seen names like Rooney with 22 goals and Van Persie with 15. “Then we got Barcelona’s list. Xavi had 14, Alexis Sánchez and Fàbregas had 15 each. “Then at the top was Messi with 63 goals, including 14 in the Champions League. “We all just started laughing. I even took a photo of the list because it was ridiculous.”

Barca to win El Clasico tonight 🇪🇸

Edgar Davids turning up at Barnet still feels made up. He was an outfield player wearing the number 1 shirt, reportedly wanted people to call him “Mister”, took set-pieces, picked and chose some away trips and, despite being there for 15 months and didn’t ask the club for a wage. Not content with just managing the club, he named himself captain, took the number 1 shirt and somehow managed to get sent off three times in six games. Barnet-era Davids was ridiculous.

🇧🇷🗣 Ronaldo: “During my generation, the competition was much tougher than it is now, without wanting to speak less of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. In my day, the stars were Zidane, Rivaldo, Figo, Ronaldinho and me. It was a better generation.” Facts 👏

Chelsea are going to bring Spurs back to reality 💀

Throwback to 2018, when Hoffenheim installed a giant screen next to their training pitch so coaches could show players their mistakes in real time. Naturally, the players ended up using it to play FIFA instead. 😂

Going for a big Roma win against Napoli tomorrow 🇮🇹🤞

Fabio Capello knew Lionel Messi was different almost immediately. During the 2005 Joan Gamper Trophy, Messi started against Juventus and tore into their defence. Capello later said: “After 25 minutes of the first half, I asked Rijkaard if I could take him on loan.” What impressed him most was that Messi was doing it in front of around 90,000 people without looking remotely intimidated. “He had personality, quality, dribbling and drive.” Barcelona said no. Imagine how different things might have been if they hadn’t.

Alfio Basile had a pretty unique perspective on football’s greatest players. He faced Pelé as a player, then later coached both Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi with Argentina. And when asked to rank the best players he had ever seen, Basile reportedly put Pelé first, Maradona second, Messi third and Johan Cruyff fourth. Coming from a man who actually worked with Maradona and Messi, that says plenty about how highly he rated Pelé. 🇧🇷🇦🇷

Deco: “Ronaldinho was more talented than Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. When we didn’t know what to do, he would create chances to score.” Sergio Ramos: “Ronaldinho was virtually unstoppable at his best.” Neymar: “No one can compare to Ronaldinho. I remember his plays, his dribbles, and him winning everything at Camp Nou.” Nani: “The best player in history? Ronaldinho. At his best, nobody could compare. He had skill, scored incredible goals and brought magic to the game.” Messi: “Ronaldinho was responsible for the change at Barça. The club should always be grateful for everything he did.” Never forget how special Ronaldinho was. 😍🇧🇷

Ronaldo on the time Vampeta opened one of his most expensive bottles of wine: “I bought a bottle of Petrus wine for around £8,000. I brought it home more for its symbolic value than anything else and had no intention of opening it. “Then Vampeta opened it, poured it into plastic cups, tasted it and said, ‘It’s bloody warm. Is there any ice?’ “Then he started putting ice cubes in the glasses. “I couldn’t believe it. It was supposed to be a bottle for display.” 😭

This Dortmund side was everyone’s second favourite team...

Cole Palmer on being compared to Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola: “I know he’s an icon on FIFA, so he must have been good. “To be honest, I didn’t see him play. Everyone says he was a great player, so thanks.” 🤣

COLE PALMER: "Since I was little, I used to imitate Messi and told my friend to record me so I could watch myself. But if I were to imitate one thing about him, it would be his humility. That’s what I admire most about him. His feet do the talking and make everyone say, 'Messi, yeah, he’s the best of them all.'"

RUUD GULLIT: "If winning the Champions League is tough now, then it was even harder back then. Only league champions played, so you didn’t get to compete every year. In fact, the name 'Champions League' doesn’t make much sense anymore when even the fourth-place team gets in. Winning it back then was a two-year mission: you had to win the league the first year and the European Cup the second. It was very difficult, and on top of that, in the early rounds you could face any top team in a two-legged tie, no group stage, no room to fix a mistake, nothing."

Jay-Jay Okocha on meeting Lionel Messi: “When I first met Messi, I was shocked because he recognised me straight away. He said, ‘Hello Jay.’ “I asked Suárez, who was with him, how Messi even knew me because I didn’t play in his generation. Messi answered himself: ‘I know you well. I watched you play with Ronaldinho in Paris. You were a real star, and Ronaldinho used to speak about you in Barcelona.’” Okocha then asked Suárez to take a picture of him with Messi. “Messi said, ‘Take one on my phone too. I’ll send it to Ronaldinho.’ “Later, Ronaldinho sent me the picture and said Messi had told him, ‘I met a legend and your former friend.’”