I stopped playing football because I’d done as much as I could. I needed something which was going to excite me as much as football had excited me.
I’m lucky to have the privilege of being able to choose what I want to do.
In England, your life is your life.
Some films I say no to and they end up working very well, but I don’t care, I just want to do something exciting.
You are constantly battling against your own weaknesses to make a good performence.
There were moments – I would be daydreaming – I would imagine scenes, even if there wasn’t a camera around. In my head, I was acting.
I was always being creative. I could never have played a defensive role because I would have been forced to destroy the other player’s creativity.
I always wanted to play against the best.
I always knew I had to work hard.
Become a legend? But I am already.
Anyone who is different or is slightly out of the norm, is considered crazy.
I know that I have a face, a look, people aren’t used to seeing. A presence.
Every experience makes you a man.
I think life is a big game we play.
I don’t take life so seriously I can just play with life.
The French have only negative things to say about everything and everyone.
My father’s parents were from Sardinia and my mother’s from Barcelona.
Sometimes you get submerged by emotion. I think it’s very important to express it – which doesn’t necessarily mean hitting someone.
When times are difficult, I tell myself, ‘I’m just passing through.’
I don’t think the world of football is so serious. It’s important to have distance about things and about yourself. If we believe we are kings or gods, we become crazy. We all know it’s a game and we all enjoy it together.
Every man who has an idol or admires someone can recognise its themes. It’s not only a film about the relationship between fans and idols, it’s also a love story, a story of a man who is depressed, who has problems in his relationship with his teenage step-children.