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“Stupidity combined with arrogance and a huge ego will get you a long way.”- Chris LoweThis famous quote almost literally sums up the esteemed luminaries who have made into our list. Footballers are known for their tantrums, their attitude and to some extent their boyish arrogance. People always have been intrigued by the audacity of a few like Mario Balotelli, and also to some extent by their immaculate brilliance like in the case of Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic.Here are the 15 most arrogant and audacious quotes from professional footballers, which range from the delusional to the hilarious:
#15 William Gallas
Chelsea’s love affair with Ashley Cole didn’t go down well with Gallas, as it was played at his expense. The Frenchamn was having troubles at Chelsea for a number of reasons and his contractual situation was one of them. Chelsea’s PR damaged his image with all kinds of accusations but the former Arsenal man held his own and showed his nonchalance by taking a cheeky dig at Ashley Cole.
“For Ashley Cole Arsenal has an offer. Chelsea has not an offer to sell William Gallas. For me that’s what makes a real difference.”
Ouch!
#14 Pablo Osvaldo
Pablo Osvaldo has played for nine clubs in the past decade and till date hasn’t played more than two seasons at a single club. This only means one thing: Dani has a huge ego. The player himself shied away from that topic but in time he got a bit wiser.
Today, Osvaldo is quite a character and he is not shy about acknowledging that:
"It's true, I have a horrible personality. But I kind of like being like this."
As blunt at it gets!
#13 Eric Cantona
Call him what you want, but he won’t give a damn about it. It’s not for nothing that Manchester United fans still revere him and call him by the name ‘King Cantona’.
It is no secret that Cantona had a very ‘special’ relationship with his French teammate Didier Deschamps. But he took his ‘love’ for him a notch higher when he said this about him:
"Deschamps gets by because he always gives 100 per cent, but he will never be anything more than a water carrier."
Only Cantona can get away with such jibes by holding his head high. He also utters these famous lines in his movie ‘Looking for Eric’,
"I am not a man, I am Cantona."
Sums everything up nicely, doesn’t it?
#12 Adel Taraabt
He seems to come from the Nicklas Bendtner school of idiocrisy. If you don’t believe me then check for yourself what the Morroccan international had to say before making his move to Milan.
“However, if I joined Milan then it would open up the doors for me to great clubs like Real Madrid and Barca.”
He also belittled the very club he was about to join,
“Milan aren’t going through a glorious period now, and they’re no longer a part of the top clubs.”
Well that’s some audacity!
#11 Ashley Cole
Ashley Cole may have been one of the best British left-backs of his generation but he certainly knew his price. His outrage at Arsenal’s offer in 2006 is very well documented in his autobiography. This is what Mr. Cole had to say,
“When I heard Jonathan Barnett (player’s agent) repeat the figure of £55K, I nearly swerved off the road. He (former Arsenal Director David Dein) is taking the piss Jonathan! I yelled down the phone. I was so incensed. I was trembling with anger. I couldn’t believe what I’d heard.”
You would be forgiven for thinking he is a distant relative of the famous Disney character Uncle Scrooge, as they share a common love for $$$$!
#10 Emmanuel Adebayor
The Togo captain is known to be an outspoken individual who never minces any words. He is known to express his feelings either through extravagant celebrations or by speaking them out. Emmanuel Adebayor was at his callous best on his official YouTube channel.
“Yeah! It’s again me, and I’m sorry maybe I’m disturbing you [winks], but I don’t think so.”
He surely knows how to stay in the spotlight.
#9 Joey Barton
Joseph Barton is quite a character. He has an opinion on each and everything under the sun. And it seems he was donning his ‘poli-tickle’ hat when he was at his audacious best in BBC’s Question Hour. This is what he said on Nick Clegg and the forthcoming general election:
“I’ve got more of a chance of winning an election than the Lib Dems…”
#8 Thierry Henry
He may be the best the Premier League has ever seen, but France and Arsenal legend Thierry Henry too couldn’t handle the pain of living in the more illustrious shadows of contempraries like Ronaldo, Ronaldinho et al. He often tried to prove that he too was in the big league of the stars.
Once in an interview he said, “So few people recognize me, I can do what anyone does.”
That was clearly Henry’s ego speaking.
#7 Juan Roman Riquelme
Juan Roman Riquelme was one of the most gifted midfielders during his heyday, and he was also very underrated. This time though, he snapped at being called irresponsible by the Argentine media.
This is what he said in response:
“I'm the only motherf*$ker who plays for free, so no one can say me a word about responsibility.”
But this quote had its riders as at that time he was getting paid a hefty US$ 12,000,000 in Argentina for only two years of his contract, which is a very unusual amount in that part of the world. Certainly, the Argentine is one of the most arrogant players to come from Argentina.
#6 Arjen Robben
It looks like arrogance is a trademark of the Dutchmen. If Cryuff wasn’t enough, then we have Arjen Robben on the list too. In 2013, this is what Robben had to say after his side’s win against Hamburg and ahead of a Champions League clash on Tuesday.
“If I were a coach, I know what I have to do on Tuesday.” The Dutch winger went on to add, “I would pick myself.”
#5 Cristiano Ronaldo
He may be one of the best footballers in the world but some of his quotes smack of sheer arrogance. After a Euro 2012 qualifying match against Cyprus, the Portuguese winger was asked why the fans jeered him.
His reply:
"It's surely because I'm good-looking, rich and a great footballer. They're jealous of me. I don't have any other explanation."
He has since apologised for that remark, but it is because of quotes like this that he is less liked by neutral fans in comparison to his bete noire Lionel Messi.
#4 Johan Cryuff
No one can doubt the genius of Johan Cryuff but no one can deny that he had a huge ego either. There are a series of arrogant quotes by this Dutch legend, and here are the best of them:
“Before I make a mistake, I don't make that mistake.”
He didn’t seem to regard the Italians too highly, maybe due to their pragamatic style or maybe due to their poor record against Cryuff’s teams.
“Italians can not beat us, but we can certainly lose against them.”
Cryuff certainly was quite something!
#3 Nicklas Bendtner
He is the only Lord in the House of Commoners. Call him what you want but Nicklas Bendtner has a glowing opinion about himself! After all, he once predicted that he would play for Real Madrid or Barcelona and would win a Ballon d’Or in the process. But this quote during his Arsenal days gave us a brief trailer about his extravagant personality.
"I should start every game, I should be playing every minute of every match and always be in the team."
Well... that certainly left everyone speechless!
#2 Mario Balotelli
For Balotelli, crazy is an understatement; the man certainly knows how to lose his mind. But here we present you with some of his more arrogant quotes:
"I think I am a genius, but not a rebel," he told France Football.
“I believe I am more intelligent than the average person.”
Well we all know where this is leading, don’t we?
#1 Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is arrogance personified and to single out one arrogant quote from this maverick is like counting the total number of stars in the sky. So just for Zlatan, we will have a series of quotes instead of a single quote.
Here goes:
He surely knows how to boast; a reporter asked him an outcome of a game and this what he said,
“Only God knows ... You’re talking to him now.”
And the granddaddy of them all:
“Arsene Wenger asked me to have a trial with Arsenal when I was 17. I turned it down. Zlatan doesn’t do auditions.”
No one can #DareToZlatan.
Now that we’ve got all the negativity out of the way, let’s look at some inspirational football quotes as well:
