“The certainty that our football, the football of Spain, is recognised, that's very important to us - perhaps more important than the successes and the joy that you can create. Football hasn't always been appreciated, and luckily our football is appreciated now, at all levels of society.”

“I make no bones about it, I'm a product of my upbringing and of the time I was brought up, so I'm not going to pretend not to be.”