The Week In Quotes

We had some great established players: David Beckham, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Paul Scholes, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry… why didn’t it work? I’ve no idea. We tried to be successful. We maybe never had the squad, we had the startling 11 which was very good but going into the tournament we maybe never had that back-up. But I think we had a great team, we were unlucky on a couple of occasions, going out on penalties. Wayne Rooney discussing why England’s Golden Generation failed to perform at a major tournament

If I tell you about a great manager, but one who is completely crazy: Van Gaal. He goes a bit too far sometimes. One day, in a game for the starters against the substitutes, with him as referee, the goalkeeper gave me the ball and I smashed the ball in his direction, aiming at his face. It missed him by inches. There was a deafening silence and he said: ‘I ask you all that no one else gives the ball to Demichelis’. We later ended up arguing in the dressing room. Martin Demichelis speaks to La Nacion on his turbulent relationship with former boss Louis van Gaal

As a rival you can try and stop Messi but we always knew that it was very difficult. As a team-mate it is different because he can change the face of the game and he is still a very humble person, he has a lot of respect for everybody and that makes him even more legendary.

We Italian coaches have a great culture of work and when you join a new club you can’t change everything, you must try and do it very gradually. Each coach must be a good tailor and adapt their beliefs to the human material that they have at their disposal. Antonio Conte with Marca on the ethos of Italian coaches

It is his personality. It’s the player he is. He is a great player; he is very talented. Every great player has a great personality. I’ve known that with Zlatan. I see that with Cristiano. Messi is also like that. Kylian will be a great player. He is already. He is doing big things. It’s good; we need players like him. So, I encourage him to stay like that. France team-mate Blaise Matuidi discusses teenage sensation Kylian Mbappe’s star persona

Manchester City and France full-back Benjamin Mendy takes up a request from United States President Donald Trump