"As a coach, you can influence the technique of a player, but his character is down to him as an individual."

"Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes, and at the end, the Germans always win."

"The World Cup is a very complicated tournament – six games, seven if you make it to the final – and maybe if you lose just one game, you're out, even if you are the best."

"I always stressed that I didn't have coaching experience, but that I did have a lot of football experience. Yet, I'm learning as much from the players as they are from me."

"In football, everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team."

"You can plan, but what happens on a football field cannot be predicted."

"Football is an art, like dancing is an art – but only when it's well done does it become an art."

"I'm not really interested in sports psychology. It makes no sense. You can't win games with it. Talking to the press is interesting because it shows what the guys are thinking. But talking to the players doesn't interest me and doesn't help me."

"When you have the ball, you dictate the rhythm of the game. When you don't have it, you have to adjust to your opponent."