I don't know where football will take me because in football, you never know, but for sure, as a family, our home will be in London.
The best way to stop Messi is when you play with 11 men and then you can double mark him, one player to stay on him and the other to help out. If it is 11 against 10 then you have almost no chance of stopping him.
Interpretation
What this quote means
To effectively counter a great player like Messi, you need to have equal numbers on the field and use strategic marking.
In this quote, Jose Mourinho emphasizes the importance of having a fair matchup in sports, particularly in soccer. He suggests that to limit the effectiveness of an extraordinary player like Lionel Messi, teams must have equal players on the field and employ strategies like double marking to contain him. When one team is outnumbered, it greatly diminishes their chances of success against a formidable opponent, highlighting the dynamics of competition and strategy in sports.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
A coach might quote Mourinho when discussing strategies for an upcoming match against a strong opponent.
More from Jose Mourinho
All quotes →You have to work hard AND well. There are a lot of people who work hard but not well.
I won't say we have to win. I won't put that pressure. But we can't lose.
You can have the top stars to bring the attention, you can have the best stadium, you can have the best facilities, you can have the most beautiful project in terms of marketing and all this kind of thing. But if you don't win... All the work these people are doing is forgotten.
Once, players came to football expecting to be wealthy when they retired. Now, they expect to be wealthy before they've played their first game!
I would rather play with 10 men than wait for a player who is late for the bus.
Similar quotes
There has always been a saying in baseball that you can't make a hitter, but I think you can improve a hitter. More than you can improve a fielder. More mistakes are made hitting than in any other part of the game.
Pressure is working down the pit. Pressure is having no work at all. Pressure is trying to escape relegation on 50 shillings a week. Pressure is not the European Cup or the Championship or the Cup Final. That's the reward.
Boxing's a poor man's sport. We can't afford to play golf or tennis. It is what it is. It's kept so many kids off the street. It kept me off the street.
Cub fans, by consensus, are the best in baseball. Year after year, in good times and (mostly) bad, they turn out in vociferous numbers, sustaining themselves with a heavenly ichor that combines loyalty, criticism, cheerfulness, durability, rage, beer and hope, in exquisite proportions.
I have loved football as an almost mythic game since I was in the fourth grade. To me, the game wasn't even grounded in reality. The uniform turned you into a warrior. Being on a team, the mythology of physical combat, the struggle against the elements, the narrative of the game.
You know the marathon in my country is just exceptional. It's like soccer in England. If England win the world cup and Ethiopia win the marathon - it's the same.