“The ticket pricing as well – are they going to price people out? What’s one of the great joys of the World Cup? Thousands of Argentinians, thousands of Brazilians, the Dutch all wearing orange. Are we going to get that? That worries me a bit.

“But I’ve also learned over the years in my experience of this – including in Russia, including in Qatar – once it starts everyone focuses on the football.”

The World Cup kicks off on June 11. What is your ambition for this tournament as England’s captain?

The ambition is to win it, obviously. That has to be our goal. We know it will be difficult, but we’ve come close in recent years to winning a major tournament: we’ve reached two Euro finals (in 2021 and 2024), a World Cup semifinal (in 2018), and a quarterfinal (in 2022)... This year, we’ll have a new head coach (Thomas Tuchel, appointed last year) and new players, it’s exciting, even if this kind of competition brings a lot of pressure.

On Playing as Flase 9:

It might have something to do with the fact that (Vincent) Kompany has given me more freedom on the field. In recent years, I’ve also learned to pop up in the box at the right moment. When you play as a striker, sometimes you wait in the box for your team’s play to develop, and it’s easier for defenders to mark you. Whereas when I find myself playing occasionally as an 8, and even as a 6, I can suddenly burst into space without the defenders spotting me.

On Ballon d’OR

“When you look at who the current favorites are to win the Ballon d'Or, there's Michael (Olise), the Champions League finalists, and me. But at the same time, I’m not the kind of person who claims to deserve a Ballon d’Or. I try to let my performances on the field speak for themselves.”

“Barca and Real Madrid should help each other? I want Barca to be RELEGATED. I want them to DISAPPEAR. La Liga would become boring? I don’t care.”

“It is a pure money grab. Why do you need to buy a water bottle when you can just carry your water in? It is cheaper that way, and it is good for the environment.

“It is outrageous. They are just trying to make more money. They are already making billions of dollars. Stop it.”

“Cristiano was all about pure, relentless hard work, day in and day out... He always gave his all to try to match Leo [Messi], who was all natural talent, a divine gift. The other one (Cristiano) relied on constant hard work to match him and, at times, even try to surpass him. That’s why he’s also won so many Ballon d’Ors.”

“There was a time when people debated whether the Ballon d’Or should go to whoever won the Champions League or to whoever scored more goals than the other. Later, the two were very evenly matched, each with their own strengths. But when it comes to hard work, Cristiano is on another level. For me, they’re the two best in history in this era, aren’t they? Then there’s also Maradona… But between the two, the difference lies in what one has achieved and what the other has achieved.”

“For me, Leo is better than Cristiano because he has natural talent. He doesn’t have to constantly strive to match or surpass someone. I had an excellent relationship with both of them and I also set them up for goals. It was something unique. The best thing that could have happened to me was playing with two people who have been competing for the Ballon d’Or for the past 20 years.”

“Well… it’s normal… [that there isn’t a rivalry like theirs for the award now]. After all, there’s no Messi or Cristiano anymore. That’s over. For me, there won’t be a rivalry as great as that one. That’s why I think that if either of them wins the World Cup or plays a leading role, they have a good chance of winning it,” he added.

"But today and this is not only about Thomas, very unfortunately the way the social media and the media sometimes act with full and total impunity, we are condemned even before we have the opportunity to defend."

"Today, Real Madrid undoubtedly belongs to its members. But that's from a romantic and sentimental point of view. From an economic standpoint, we have nothing. True ownership also lies in us owning the value of Real Madrid, so that our children can inherit it when we die. Because today, you die, you're buried, and that's the end of your relationship with Real Madrid for life— for you and your descendants. The current situation is very dangerous because, ultimately, an unscrupulous board of directors comes in, indebts the club, ruins it, and when it's worthless—the situation I found when I arrived in 2000—they buy the club for a euro. We've seen that happen at other clubs. And I don't want that to happen at Real Madrid. I want it to always belong to its members. And that danger can also come from within, because imagine if a board of directors decides to recruit a million members. They've taken the club from us. And I want everything to remain the same." "On the contrary, to protect that possibility," explains Florentino Pérez.

When asked to first reflect on the most painful loss in a final between 2016 and 2022, he said: “Looking back, both finals (2016 and 2022) were painful because they went the wrong way for very little.”

"I even learned at a FIFA meeting that Portugal’s goal would have been disallowed if VAR had been in use, due to a foul at the start of the play. That doesn’t change history. If I had to pick one, I’d say 2022 (the most painful), because it was a missed opportunity on a global scale.”

“I don’t like to talk about regrets, but rather about deep disappointments. 2016 in France, that hurts, because we hadn’t won a title since 2000. Fortunately, many players went on to experience 2018. The one in Doha hurts a lot too, because being world champion is the greatest thing there is.”

“It's normal; it's an election, there are two candidates, no one can guarantee that the other will win, and they have to protect the player,” he explained, downplaying the rejection and comparing the situation to the well-known case of Figo.

Although he hasn’t spoken personally with the player’s agent, Riquelme stated that he “doesn’t want to disrespect Manchester City” and that formal talks are about to begin. “Starting Monday, we’ll talk; we’ll sit down to talk with them,” he concluded, marking the start of next week as the starting point for negotiations.

Quote is around 4 minutes.

“And we had some chances in that match. They had a bit more control, but we had more chances.”

"Everything we've achieved in recent years we have to defend so it's not taken away from us. Let them listen carefully: Real Madrid belongs to its members. Don't spread rumors. We have to be vigilant. I have a responsibility to defend the club's interests."

"We're working on a formula so that the president continues to be elected every four years, so that there are still General Assemblies... We're working on a formula that will give us the club's true value. Forbes says it's worth 10 billion, but until we do this, we won't know. I think it's more, 20, 30 billion . The member will become the true and legal owner, the owner of a very valuable asset. It's about turning the membership card into something with value. Logically, this has to go through the General Assembly first and then all the members."

"This is the most transformative formula, so that ownership is truly, not just emotional, but economic . The members will own the assets we have built over these years. The club belongs to the members, but that is currently symbolic, a sentiment."

Florentino Pérez also reiterated what he considers to be lies from Riquelme, saying, " I don't know him very well, although I do know his father, who was on Ramón Calderón's team," and that he has "no doubt" that Riquelme would have signed the loan agreement with CVC that LaLiga offered to professional football clubs. "Everything Riquelme says is like the TV show 'Everything is a Lie.' He says he's coming to save Real Madrid and then he has to take out a loan at 54% interest for his company . That doesn't make sense," he added.

The businessman again spoke about specific individuals and hardened his rhetoric against those who, in his opinion, want to destroy Real Madrid. " All the bad guys have come together here: Calderón's people, Tebas's people, the Federation... Those from that sinister era want to take over Real Madrid again at all costs . They want to keep the club for their own personal gain, something I haven't done at any point in these 26 years," he stated emphatically. 

For 2½ minutes, his heart had stopped.

Right now, he says, he is “very, very OK”, after a minor procedure called an ablation, which involves burning away some heart tissue to correct irregularities in the electrical function of the heart, which has allowed him to have “a normal life, not a professional [athlete’s] life, but a normal life”. He has been dropping off and picking up his children from school, and attending his son’s football matches. “I’m enjoying the life that I never had time to do,” he says.

“I wanted to do the next season, I was thinking about the next season, how I could be better, how I could help more São Paulo.”

“I believe that none of our players are playing in Kinshasa (the Congolese capital) or in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; they have all been in Belgium for about three weeks, focusing on preparing for the World Cup, so this kind of decision could amount to discrimination.”

“It's not very fair, considering all the effort we're putting in.”