I was voted three times Germany's national player of the year, and that is decided by the fans. That shows the fans are there for me and believe in me.

It makes me very happy when I create goals or score goals myself, but the most important thing is that the team reaches its goal and plays positive football.

Arsenal belong as one of the best clubs in the world, and London is a great place to be, a great city to live in.

People wrote so negatively about me, but generally, the people who are familiar with football know my strengths and abilities.

Football has end zones and goal posts; basketball has the hoop, and hockey the goal cage. Baseball is the only game with an imaginary box: the strike zone, which the umpire determines at his own discretion.

I'm a visual thinker, really bad at algebra. There's others that are a pattern thinker. These are the music and math minds. They think in patterns instead of pictures. Then there's another type that's not a visual thinker at all, and they're the ones that memorize all of the sports statistics, all of the weather statistics.

I had never played a team sport when I was younger.

The game of life is a lot like football. You have to tackle your problems, block your fears, and score your points when you get the opportunity.