What impresses me most is Bastian Schweinsteiger. He is a complete player who has been an enormous help to his team, Bayern.
I've been the captain at Ajax and once for the national team - it's nice and makes you an important player.
It's not easy, especially for a German national team player who did great things in the past and maybe is struggling. That's why I think most of the German national team play abroad because if you don't play for Bayern Munich and you don't always win, it's difficult.
The most important thing is that Spain have a good team no matter who plays. It is always nice to see your name spoken but the important thing is that the national team does well. But having good players for every position is important because there are always injuries, drops of form.
I had role models in my community, guys that were older than me and played at university or on the national team. Eli Pasquale was always around UVic when I was a young player, and the national team was around Victoria a little bit, so I got to watch those guys and learn from them.
It had never been a decision to choose between the French national team or the Senegalese national team because I was growing up in France and playing in the French youth national team, so it was something really normal.
I think the only thing that matters is you win as a team and you lose as a team. And so the team needs to understand that no one player is bigger than any other player. Everybody has a role... Every single role is important.
In the national team, the armband always goes to the player with the most caps.
Thomas Muller deserves enormous respect. He's hardly ever injured and has always been with the national team, where other players might have said they are tired, need a break or were injured. He has busted his butt for the national team.
Diego Costa always gives us physical and moral strength. He is a very important player for the character he transmits to the team, and his potential as a football player.
I mean, obviously when you've a lot of time on your hands, you get together and you're always always debating that team vs. that team, that player vs. that player, all these hypothetical matchups.
It is always disappointing when a player is not prepared to stick it out and fight for his place in a national team.
Bernard is a great player, a player for the Brazilian national team, and I also followed his progress with Atletico Mineiro.
I've been the best player on every team that I played on, so if I can't be the poster child of your team, then what else is it? It's got to be a black-white issue. Every white player I know who's the best player on their team is the poster child of that team.
I've had the opportunity to play with Neymar on the national team. Now I'm playing alongside Messi. He's a different player, but he's the best player in the world.
I came out with a few plaudits, and I don't really enjoy that because I am a team player. I don't shout about myself, and I've always been team-orientated, so maybe that is why I have always slipped under the radar throughout my career.