Top 55 Paulinho Quotes

My life’s been a rollercoaster.

I never take free kicks because it’s not my job.

If you are not playing in your position in a league as competitive as England then it is difficult.

Football is a game where you have to do a bit of everything if you want your team to have the edge.

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.

Coutinho is a great player, he will help Barcelona to reach their goals.

I’ve always been this kind of player: since youth level I’ve been a midfielder who can arrive and finish.

Money for me never came first.

I hope to build a beautiful story here with Spurs like I did with Corinthians.

It’s a gift to be offered the opportunity to play the World Cup.

When I was a kid, I used to love playing football so much that I genuinely wouldn’t be able to fall asleep at night.

Football can change very fast.

It’s a great pleasure to be linked to such a great club like Tottenham.

You have to face challenges with courage.

Playing alongside Messi is special for me. He’s a player I always wanted to play with. I have played against him with Brazil, but to play alongside him is a privilege.

At the end of the day, money’s never the most important thing.

Football without critics wouldn’t be football.

I wouldn’t say it was a relief to leave Spurs but it was clear I had to. It was a difficult time.

Players always wants to play.

I am very happy that a great club like Barcelona is interested in me, as that is priceless.

If we can’t handle pressure, we don’t play football.

You can lose a game by two or three and say: ‘Oh we made this mistake, we made that mistake, we lost.’ But if you lose 7-1 what can you say?

You are told before coming to Europe that big teams here quite often rotate players. I respect this culture but it is instinctive for me to get annoyed if I don’t play every game.

At Corinthians, I had the pleasure to play with Ronaldo who also taught me a lot.

It is special to play alongside the best footballer in the world.

I have been told you don’t have time to think too much when you get the ball in England. In practice it looks even more dynamic than on TV.

In my second season at Tottenham, things didn’t go as I wanted but I accepted the offer from Chinese football and there I recovered my confidence and I won titles.

When I went from Tottenham to China a lot of people said that was it, my career was over. I had a couple of other offers at the time but they were both loans and I would have had to go back at the end. I just wanted to play.

I had no problem with Pochettino.

A lot of people felt it was difficult for me to come to Barca because I was playing in China. Nevertheless, I have achieved my dream and I am enjoying each day.

I have to play. Doesn’t matter where.

What I always say is when I am at a club I am enjoying what that club has to offer.

I had a good first season at Tottenham, but in the second there wasn’t a sequence of games. So when I didn’t feel happy, I waited for the season to end and then asked the president to let me go to try another challenge.

For the clubs that I’ve played for I always tried to fulfill my contract.

For a footballer, not playing is like a fish not being in the water.

It really is one of my qualities, moving into different areas of the field, picking up opponents as well as helping to attack.

When the transfer window opens, every player can leave his club and find another challenge.

Football without challenges isn’t football.

In England, I have acquired more tactical knowledge and improved the speed of my decision making.

Ever since I was five years old, running around the streets of Zona Norte with a football, my mother has been by my side in every situation.

A good financial proposal doesn’t mean you’ll get to do a lot of things. There are times when you have to think about your career.

I promise hard work and I will do everything to help my team mates.

A player can make money at any team he goes to. The important thing for me is to be happy with the decision that I am making.

As a player, I just focus on the games and concentrate on improving myself.

When someone is playing alongside the best player in the world, you just have to do what you need to do to make him the best and ensure that the ball gets to him as quickly and as often as possible.

I suffered racial abuse in Lithuania, and in two games the fans were making monkey noises and throwing coins at me.

I’ve always looked at what Lampard does, and to me is a huge phenomenon – the way he hits the ball, what positions he takes up – he really is incredible.

Matches are decided by details and you have to be ready to create spaces and help open up defences. It is what I have to do.

When I came to Barca, I know some people doubted me. They weren’t totally convinced. But, and I’ve said this before, that never really bothers me.

One minute I was with Tottenham, the next came a proposal from China. I took a step back to think about it and decided it was the right time to move.

I left Brazil at 17 years old in order to give my family a better life, but when I returned home two years later, I was completely disillusioned with football.

In Lithuania they had racially abused me, in Poland they hadn’t paid me, and I thought: ‘I don’t need this.’ I said to my family: ‘I’m not playing football again.’

If we need to play ugly to win a match, we are going to do that.

I know Barca have their own style and DNA but I think I can play here.

It is the dream of every player. Imagine winning the World Cup in your own country. It would be the happiest day of my career.