GERARD PIQUÉ
Gerard Piqué press conference: 20 key phrases
Piqué's press conference on Wednesday saw him discuss Catalonia, Spain, Sergio Ramos, card games, King Felipe VI, and even his kids.
1. "At the end of the day, being on the end of insults and whistles isn't pleasant for anyone. But I think that it's a challenge for me and I'm here to try and turn it round."
2. "No-one can doubt my commitment to the Spain team. I've been coming here for 15 years; I feel proud to be in the Spanish national team."
3. "I'm in favour of people being able to vote [on Catalan independence]: be it voting 'yes', voting 'no' or casting a blank vote. I also respect that other people may believe that the Catalans shouldn't be able to vote."
4. "I'm not saying that it's my case, but I think someone who is pro-independence can play for the Spain team."
5. "If you don't have anything against Spain, you think Spain is great and you think the people are great, why can't someone who's pro-independence play for the Spanish national team?"
6. "You can all express an opinion on politics: whether you're a waiter, a journalist, a mechanic... But a footballer isn't allowed to talk."
7. "I don't think that I've positioned myself on one side and tried to defend that side tooth and nail; that hasn't been the case. I've simply said that I think people should vote."
8. "If there are people doubting whether to whistle me or not, then let them listen to me and [I think they'll] say: 'Shit, at the end of the day what he's putting across is very reasonable'."
9. "My [Spain] team-mates don't deserve to go through this experience. That's why I'm sitting here now; instead of two of my team-mates coming out and being inundated with questions about me, I preferred to come out myself and answer everything that has to be answered."
10. "The Sergio Ramos thing is a lie - we get on phenomenally, I've repeated it 20,000 times. What's more, we're going to be partners in a business venture that I proposed to him."
11. "Quitting [the Spain team] now would be giving in to all the people - who I don't think are a majority in Spain - who believe that the best solution is to insult and whistle."
12. "Do I want Catalan independence? That's the million-dollar question. I can't answer that. Footballers are global figures, and I can't position myself on one side.
13. "My sons are Colombian, Lebanese, Catalan and Spanish; we live in a global world."
14. "I don't want to leave [the Spain team] by the back door and feel that things have ended badly."
15. "I'm convinced that there are very many people in Spain who appreciate me."
16. "If I took all the people whistling me in a stadium, put them around a table and had dinner with them, nobody would be whistling me after dinner."
17. "If you don't go there, it's very difficult to get across to those of you who are in Madrid, in Andalusia, in the Basque Country or wherever, what's happening in Catalonia. At the end of the day, television shows you what it wants you to see."
18. "I think that [the situation between] Spain and Catalonia is like the 18-year-old who wants to leave home. If you sit down and talk to him, maybe he won't leave."
19. "Spain and Catalonia would be weaker to begin with [if they separated]."
20. "To be honest, I didn't listen to the king's speech. I wanted to listen to it but I missed it; I was playing [the Spanish card game] Pocha."