The year in quotes

By Simon Hart

If footballers have a capacity to enthrall us with their actions on the pitch, they can also prove pretty entertaining with their words off it. uefa.com picks out the quotes of the year.

Everyone thinks they have the prettiest wife - Arsène Wenger, manager of English champions Arsenal FC, dismisses Sir Alex Ferguson's suggestion that Manchester United FC remain the country's top team.

I will not sit on the bench, because I take up too much space - Bayer 04 Leverkusen's generously proportioned commercial manager, Reiner Calmund, puts the team first.

The whole defence made mistakes today, not just Kalac. Just because he is from Australia, it doesn't mean that he can jump over the bar like a kangaroo - AC Perugia coach Serse Cosmi defends goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac from the critics after one heavy defeat.

The thing is, at least I can't get another injury now - David Beckham looks on the bright side after a broken metatarsal bone leaves him fighting to be fit for the FIFA World Cup.

If you listen to Lothar, you will get the impression he had never lost one single match in his career. He wants a position on our club's board of management. But I promise, as long as Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and I have some responsibilty at Bayern, Lothar will not even become the groundsman - FC Bayern München general manager Uli Hoeness responds to criticism from the club's former captain Lothar Matthäus

This Real Madrid team will not stop winning trophies - Real Madrid CF captain Fernando Hierro after the Merengues' UEFA Champions League final victory over Bayer 04 Leverkusen

I have never had to listen to such foul-mouthed abuse from any footballer. I have never witnessed such an attack from any human being in any walk of life in my life - Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy after the row that ended Roy Keane's World Cup involvement.

The lads will see their women, but only after the first round. They must learn to moderate their sexual appetites - Italy coach Giovanni Trappatoni tells his players to stop ball-watching.

If you put all the players in a sack and punched it, whoever you hit would deserve it - Franz Beckenbauer is perhaps a bit premature in his judgement of Germany's World Cup prospects.

I think we got what we deserved - Patrick Vieira on France's early exit from the World Cup.

I refuse to pay a salary to a player who has ruined Italian football - AC Perugia president Luciano Gaucci after his club's Korean Republic striker Ahn Jung-Hwan knocked Italy out of the World Cup.

I thought the referee would be fairer in a quarter-final match like this - Two disallowed goals in the World Cup defeat by Korean Republic leave Spain coach José Antonio Camacho feeling sore.

We have achieved our goal of reaching the élite and the players have enjoyed every minute. We were the only team to give Brazil problems in two matches - A proud Senol Günes discusses semi-finalists Turkey's World Cup achievements

I fought for two-and-a-half years to overcome my injury without knowing there'd be a day like this at the end of it - Ronaldo reflects on winning the World Cup final for Brazil.

Words of consolation have almost zero effect here. I'm fully aware that this was the only mistake I must have made in the seven matches of the World Cup and that one mistake was cruelly punished - Oliver Kahn is inconsolable after Germany's World Cup final defeat

I was not born in 1979 but in 1975 instead. I could not stand any longer to pretend to be another person. My real name is Luciano and I have been playing under an assumed identity - AC Chievo Verona's Brazilian winger Eriberto spills the beans.

Well, I wanted to get the jersey with the number six. But somebody else had got it already. So I thought, I would take the number 33, because three times three is also six - VfL Wolfsburg's young defender Maik Franz plays the numbers game.

If they want to sack me, they should do it but please stop brutalising me. I'm just Giovanni, not Giovanna d'Arco [Joan of Arc] - Italy coach Giovanni Trapattoni takes flak after the UEFA EURO 2004™ defeat by Wales.

We [Italians] are smart and intelligent people, we just become stupid every time we speak about football - Brescia Calcio coach Carlo Mazzone defends national coach Trapattoni from criticism.

I'm too good a coach for this team - Coach Jupp Heynckes fails to endear himself to the Athletic Club Bilbao fans.

I prefer to fight things out in public. It's better to box the ears than to talk behind someone's back. That spoils the atmosphere - FC Bayern München defender Bixente Lizarazu after he hit team-mate Niko Kovac in the face during training

I don't know anything about this team, except that they have a Danish coach and that their goalkeeper wears a bobble hat - German international Torsten Frings gives a brutal assessment of the Faroe Islands.

If you see Wayne Rooney out on the streets make sure you send him straight home - Everton FC manager David Moyes asks the club's fans to help keep wonder boy Wayne Rooney out of trouble.

Maybe we as a team should simply go out and booze the whole night long. And then, we should just give each other a real good thrashing - Former German international Mario Basler offer an unlikely solution to the crisis at 1. FC Kaiserslautern.

This is not worthy of Spanish football - Real Madrid's director of sport, Jorge Valdona, after ugly scenes marred the Merengues' visit to FC Barcelona.

I was the last into the dressing room, so I missed all the celebrations. But what I saw was an amazing scene - [Nigerian international] James Obiorah and [Ghana forward] Baba Adamu crying their eyes out in a corner. I was absolutely shocked. I asked Obiorah what happened and he could only answer, 'We are the champions'. I didn't know foreign players could be so sentimental - Dmitri Loskov, FC Lokomotiv Moskva captain, after they won their first Russian Premier-Liga title.

I think I've deserved it and I hope not to wait another five years before winning it again - Ronaldo on winning the Ballon D'Or.