I know too well how much I am going to miss football after my career for me to put up my own barriers.

All of my career, I have been - how can I say this? - I have been through certain difficulties, and I have always tried to make it motivation to get better and better.

Football is very hard, and people see only the nice part of the job.

As a striker, what you got used to on a daily basis, it is to be applauded when you score goals. When the opposite happens, it's difficult.

In most companies, the formal hierarchy is a matter of public record - it's easy to discover who's in charge of what. By contrast, natural leaders don't appear on any organization chart.

Germany's Angela Merkel exudes an atmosphere of elderly exhaustion and pooped-out pessimism. Britain's David Cameron, though by nature exuberant, feels he has to look and sound glum. And France's leader, Francois Hollande, seems determined to drive every successful businessman out of the country.

You don't lead by hitting people over the head - that's assault, not leadership.

For a guy who believes in hope, Obama doesn't seem to be able to spread much of it around. How can he? We know too much now about the hollowness of institutions and the frailty of their leaders.