Top 50 Quotes & Sayings by Fabio Capello

Being at a World Cup is a sacrifice? Twenty days is a sacrifice? What about the people there working for the team, up at five every morning? That's sacrifice. It's not a sacrifice to play.

To train a national team, you have to know what team you have at your disposal and what this team is capable of. You need to get the best out of them and take them as far as possible. Yet, sometimes, you can't achieve your goals.

I have always been in love with football. As a child, I started playing football.

I like classy women: Virna Lisi, Catherine Deneuve.

The challenge of coaching a national side like England would be something different. The job is not about coaching every day.

I am not interested in the Italian national team. I prefer to have a new experience, outside of Italy.

A team needs leaders to drive it forward, but you never know how it will end.

My English might not be good enough to talk politics but there is no difficulty if we are talking about football.

Every national side plays according to their characteristics and the kind of entertainment they like.

I never had any problems with the players. I would say that my English is better than Gary Lineker's Spanish.

When I am at work, there is no need for me to deliver anything but results.

At home we never mention football. Not with my wife, not with my sons, not with my mother. Sometimes they will see something in the paper and ask me what I think. But I say, nothing.

In Italy, it is all about tactics and playing for a result, whereas in Spain, the focus is on technique and pace. In England, the game is based on aggression and non-stop action.

I only ever call up the best players, or at least the players who are the most suited to the way I wish to play.

Goalscoring depends on how relaxed you are in front of goal.

I always play to win, as I proved at AC Milan, Real Madrid, Roma and Juventus. I want my players to have the same ambition.

Hotels make me sad. I need a home.

Having the team with leaders - John Terry is one, Gareth Barry is a leader - is very, very important. These players helped me a lot.

When a man crosses his legs and the trouser leg rides up to show the hairy shins, it offends my eyes.

The goalkeeper is very, very important, as much as a striker. Anyone who wants to win a title has to have a goalkeeper.

I will never close the door to the national team on anyone, but you also have to remember that in modern football, only players who are in peak physical condition can make the most of their technical abilities.

Here the football is more physically strong. The Spanish are more technical. In Italy more tactical. In England... you have to run. We don't fear the tackles, because the people like this.

Look, in my life, I played one World Cup: the greatest thing. I used to wait in anticipation for the squad announcement. I didn't go to Argentina 78 having played throughout qualification. Now, that hurt.

The first World Cup I followed was Sweden 1958. I watched the games on TV. Brazil won that World Cup by defeating Sweden 5-2 in the Final and Pele scored twice.

I have a contract and I refused a lot of opportunities to be the manager of important clubs because I want to stay here. I like this job. I like to be the England manager.

If you're speaking of a fantasy player, then it has to be Leo Messi as he's so unpredictable. He's an absolute genius.

The Queen is above it all

I can't stand the crap that gets talked by everyone - Players, Fans, The Media, Club Officals. Why should I waste my time listening to people who are clearly less intelligent than me

Sometimes miracles happen. We have to be confident. We're convinced we can do something really exceptional.

There are some nights when everything goes your way and some when it doesn't, and this wasn't our game. I was most disappointed with our lack of aggression as that is normally one of our characteristics.

I never cry about what I don't have. I'm always positive.

I am very proud and honour-red to be the England manager.

When I was a player, I'd have a pre-match meal of the biggest lump of fillet steak you could find, followed by rice pudding. Other times I'd have a steak and kidney pie. I'd finish the meal at 12.30 and be playing two-and-a-half hours later.

Once he's on the run, Messi is unstoppable.

Every manager dreams of a job like this [the England job] and I will be sure to learn English within one month.

For me, I always study the last games that have been played, not what happened in the past.

Cristiano is an explosive type of player, with great technique, but he's still not as gifted as Messi in my opinion. Messi is more of a genius than Cristiano. Cristiano is so strong physically, so powerful, but Messi has more creativity.

When he's on fire, he is impossible to stop. He dribbles like a winger, but is still able to score 20 goals a year in the Premiership. (on Thierry Henry)

I'm glad for the equaled record. However, the final numbers really count.

Certainly it's nice to have historic moments like this but eventually somebody will break this record. We're aiming for the end result, otherwise the rest is useless.

I'm happy with my language progress - the only difficulty when I tour Premier League matches is that different people talk to me in different accents - and sometimes I can hardly understand a word!

He will be England captain one day. Jack Wilshere is a real leader. I saw how he spoke with the referee and the other players [against Denmark]. It is difficult to find someone so young with such a big personality. I remember two defenders, Paolo Maldini and Franco Baresi, and one attacker, Raul, but for personality and confidence on the pitch he is the best young midfielder I have seen for his age.

It's all about the climate. I had a long discussion about it when I went to Scotland to see Andy Roxburgh. I worked with a Scottish youth side and had them do the same drills I would do in Italy. I realised that, between the wind, the rain and the cold, there was no way they could do it. How can you possibly teach anybody anything in those conditions? To me, it's pretty obvious and it explains why Brazilians are more technical than Europeans and, in Italy, the further south you go the more technical they are.

If you want to score a goal, you have to hit the target.

Like [George] Best, there is a special fantasia about him

Christiano knows English, Messi knows football

We deserved to lose and it was a good result for us, considering the way we played in the second half.

The only thing that I know about Feyenoord, is that they are from the country of Ajax

We are not ourselves anymore, we've lost a little something.

In my entire life I have never seen a player of such quality and personality at such a young age, particularly wearing the 'heavy' shirt of one of the world's great clubs.