Thread by @DianaKristinne

43 minutes, you say? *flexes, cracks knuckles* OK, let's do this.

Q: "What does it mean for you to have a show made by Cirque de Soleil for you, based on your life?"
A: "It's impressive. It was very weird when it all started, when they said they wanted to do this. For me it's incredible, because it's not normal for someone who is still so

present to be an inspiration, it's usually done as an homage to people who are no longer with us. It was very difficult to mix football and circus and the fact that they were inspired by me was surprising so it was a very nice feeling."

Q: "Have you seen anything from it until now?"
A: "I saw parts of it, ideas that they shared, but I didn't want to see it even though they invited me to watch rehearsals and stuff, but I want to see it all and be surprised on the day of the premiere."

Q: "Did you ask for anything?"
A: "No, they were very clear on their idea from the start and it's not all based on my life, it's about doing everything you do to the best of your ability, being a 10 in your field of work.

Showing off what they do and a bit of a play on the idea of a 10 and the difficult things that they do with acrobats and stuff like that."

Q: "In Spanish 10 doesn't mean God, but in Catalan it does (10 = deu = God). Does it bother you, especially considering your children, for people to call you God? Does that worry you?"
A: "It doesn't worry me, but I don't like it. It's a nice sentiment and I know it comes from

a good place, but it's exaggerated to be called that and especially for my kids who copy everything. Like Mateo who keeps calling me Leo Messi: "Come on, Leo Messi" and other stuff like that. So that's why it's not good for them to hear stuff like that."

Q: "But how do you handle the expectations places upon you? Do you do something special like meditation or anything?"
A: "No,I'm a person that's usually closed off, I don't talk about my problems or insecurities a lot, but I obviously rely on my family, friends, my inner circle."

I've always handled it naturally, the most important thing for me was to focus on enjoying football, which has always been my passion, without thinking about everything that surrounds being a professional player and that's how I went about everything I've experienced."

Q: "Does it worry you for your kids, about how their classmates might treat them and want to make friends with them because of who you are?"
A: "No, I've been fortunate especially with Thiago who has a group of 9-10 real friends since he was like 3 and they're just now realizing

who his dad is and all that. So I know that they're friends with him because of him and I think that Thiago is very smart and despite his age can differentiate between things like that."

Q: "Can you go out of the house naturally?"
A: "I'm not a very outgoing person, I enjoy sitting at home, but with the kids I'm kind of forced to go out more and I have no problems with that."

Q: "Do you watch series?"
A: "Yes, mostly because Anto is a big fan of movies and series and I watch with her after we put the kids to bed and we have a bit of time to relax."

"Right now we're not watching anything, we're looking for a new one."

Q: "Video games?"
A: "I played a lot when I was younger, now I've stopped, I just join Thiago when he wants me to play something with him."

Q: "Was there any moment when you got home after a bad day and told Anto that you were done, that you wanted to stop?"
A: "Yes, there were moments when I felt tired or exhausted due to a combination of factors, but I think that happens to everyone."

Q: "Can you give us an example?"
A: "There have been some moments, but especially during the 2013-2014 period when I had all those issues with the tax office and all the stories coming out, that was a bad time for me."

"It was very difficult for me and for my family, because people just hear stuff here and there and form an opinion and speak. A certain part of the press also helped that to happen."

Q: "There were all those labels that were put on you: tag dodger, a person who doesn't fulfill his obligations like the rest of us..."
A: "I think that it was tougher on me because I was the first and they wanted to prove that they were going after footballers."

"So it was very difficult to deal with all that and the saving grace was that the kids were little and didn't know anything about it."

Q: "Was there a moment when you thought about leaving? A team that you wanted to go to?"
A: "Honestly when all of that was happening I did think about leaving, but not because of Barca, just leaving Spain, I felt like I was being treated badly and didn't want to be here anymore.

I think I had doors open at many clubs, but never an official offer because everyone knew that I wanted to stay at Barca, but that situation went beyond what I felt for this club, it was about what I felt on a personal level."

Q: "In an interview with Sport you said that you didn't want to leave Barca, but you wanted a winning project. Does Barca have that?"
A: "It's been a difficult start to the season, but we have a squad of great players that can fight for everything and I think that's the idea that

we all have: winning, bringing titles. That's what the fans want too. I think that we've had "winning projects" in recent years too, but in the last 2 years it was our fault that we didn't win the CL. How we got knocked out was on us, it wasn't about the project or the coach."

Q: "So people can be relaxed about your continuity here?"
A: "Yes, obviously, as long as they want me I'm happy to stay and I always say that my idea is to retire here, nothing has changed."

OK, 25% done. Need a short break.

Q: "Have you started talking about a new contract?"
A: "I don't think so, from what I know from my dad. He's always handled all the negotiations with the club, it's not like there's ever been issues, it's always very simple and if it happens I'm sure it will be the same now too."

Q: "It's very poetic, isn't it? A lot of players say they want to retire here, but now you have a lot of options and examples like Xavi or Iniesta who went elsewhere. Do you consider that?"
A: "Right now my idea is to stay here, mostly due to what I feel for the club and also

because of my family, for how well we're settled in the city, for the kids, I wouldn't want to disrupt their friendships and lives. I know how that feels like personally and I don't want them to go through it."

Q: "So do you want to keep living here after you've retired too?"
A: "We think so. Obviously anything can happen in the future, one can't be sure, but our idea is to keep living here."

Q: "So Barca would be your only club? I ask because there's always also been talk about Newell's."
A: "It's true, it was something I always dreamed about as a kid, playing for Newell's and experiencing Argentinian football

which is a different experience from anywhere else in the world, with the good stuff and the bad, but sometimes you also have to think about your family more and family is the most important."

Q: "You've had a difficult start to the season, with your injuries, but against Inter and Sevilla you've had a few plays when you've looked like yourself. Do you feel like you're back to being 100%?"
A: "Not yet, I'm getting there. The Sevilla game was the first one I played

90 minutes in. I started off feeling a bit tired, my legs were heavy, but in the second half I felt better, got into rhythm more and I think that's normal, getting back after such a long time out and as games go by I'm getting back to 100%."

Q: "Griezmann is also having issues with his integration into the attacking trident with you and Suarez right now. What's happening with him?"
A: "Coming to Barcelona and adapting to its football isn't easy. It looks easy from the outside,

but for players who come from the outside and haven't ever experienced this or been raised in this style it's hard. He comes from a team that played in a very different way, but I have no doubt that he'll end up adapting, because he has a lot of quality and he's very intelligent"

Q: "There are a lot of urban legends around football. One of them is that you didn't want Griezmann to come, that you wanted Neymar."
A: "That's obviously a lie. Last year when the talk about him first started I said that he was one of the best players and we always want the

best players, like we were saying before about the "winning project" and everything. I never had any problems with him coming, so that's a lie."

Q:"And the second part of that? Did you want Neymar?"
A: "Yes, for the same reason. On a sporting level Ney is one of the best in the world, I have no doubt about it, a different player, a player that unbalances the rival, having him would have given us more options to win stuff.

But I understand that he's not just analyzed from this sporting perspective, but for everything that surrounds him and how he left when he did, leaving us in that moment and that there were a lot of club socios that didn't want him to come back and that's understandable

because of everything that happened. So it was complicated for him to be able to come back, but from a purely sporting perspective I would have liked having him back."

Q: "Have you found out how much the club did to get him? Because you previously said you didn't know"
A: "I didn't say that meaning to hurt the board or against them. I was just saying that I didn't know because I wasn't a part of the negotiations because that's not my place.

I know that people say that I make the squads, transfer people in or out or decide on coaches, but that's just not true. So that's why I said I didn't know because I was not there. I know what Ney told me, but nothing from the other side so I can't have an opinion, I don't know."

Q: "Does Neymar feel bad about leaving Barca?"
A: "I believe he does, I think that shortly after leaving he realized that he was wrong and made the wrong decision. This is just what I believe knowing him and seeing what he's been through, but you'd have to ask him."

Q: "Did you ever imagine him wearing white?"
A: "Yes, at one point during the summer I thought that he would either come here or go to Madrid, because I knew how much he wanted to leave, to change things. And I thought that Florentino and Madrid would do something about it."

Q: "Do you rule it out for next summer?"
A: "In football I don't rule out anything."
Q: "And for Barca?"
A: "The president said that it couldn't happen now, but we'll see in the future, so the door is open and like I said, can't rule out anything in football."

Q: "I wanted to ask you about Valverde. He was very criticized last season, especially for the Liverpool game. Were you in favor of him staying?"
A: "Like I said, I think that loss is on us, the players. It's unacceptable for something like that to happen to us, because it had

happened the year before against Roma. But we got stuck and the Roma game came into our minds and we could never get out of that and things just kept getting worse. But I don't think that happens because of the coach.

It wasn't my decision to keep Valverde like people say. The club decided that and the dressing room accepted that with joy and tranquility, because he's a coach that we support and like, just like with Luis Enrique before him and the one before and the ones who will come after.

I think that in order to get to our objectives we all have to be united, otherwise it's very difficult."

Q: "People say that Barca should have won more CLs than they have while having the best player in history playing for them. Do you you think so too?"
A: "I think we squandered some opportunities and that we could have won more during these years,

but what we want and what happens are different things and we didn't earn them, for one reason or the other and unfortunately now we haven't won it for a long time."

50% done. Lunch break. Haha.

Q: "Do you know whether you'll win the BDO?""
A: "No idea."
Q: "Would it be a disappointment if you didn't?"
A: "No, because for me individual awards are a nice recognition and it's fun to get to live this with my kids who enjoy them more than me, but they were never a priority.

Disappointment would be another year of not winning the CL, because it's been a few years now of not winning it."

Q: "Can you define Gerard Pique for me?"
A: "Geri is a very transparent and intelligent person, he says what he thinks without worrying about repercussions and he's always honest and direct and he's a very fun and entertaining guy."

Q: "Did what he said after the Getafe game surprise you or did you know he was going to say that?" (the thing about the board getting journos to write stuff for them)
A: "No, I was injured and didn't even travel for that game."
Q: "But as team captain, did he inform you?"

A: "(laughs) No, Geri doesn't inform anyone about anything. I was surprised to see what he said."
Q: "Do you agree with him?"
A: "For us who have been here for a long time and know how things work, knows that we all find out everything.

I wouldn't have said it because it's just inflating the issue in a moment that wasn't ideal for the dressing room, but Geri is like that and that's what he felt, thought and did, but the most important thing is that now we're all united in going for our goals."

Q: "Do the players have the power in the club?"
A: "Obviously not, it's been proven by a lot of things that have happened, but it's been said for a long time, like the thing about me making decisions. Unfortunately we just have to learn to live with this even if it's false."

Q: "How long has it been since you've talked to the president?"
A: "The last time we talked was after Liverpool."
Q: "Do you have a good relationship with him?"
A: "Yes, we don't have any problems, it's all good, it's just happened that we haven't sat down to talk in a while."

Q: "In that Sport interview you said that the dressing room is sometimes consulted about club decisions. What have you been asked about?"
A: "They ask for opinions about this or that player, like Griezmann or Neymar, what we think about it, whether it would work.

We talk about stuff that comes out in the press, but we don't make decisions."

Q: "The images of you talking to Mateu Lahoz on Sunday were quite something. The phrase was extraordinary "He doesn't know how to talk!" (laughs)"
A: "I misspoke a bit, what I meant to say was that it was very difficult for Dembele to have said that because it's hard for him

to talk in Spanish. It's hard to think he expressed himself so clearly to the referee. Valverde also said the same. Ousmane makes himself understood and understands what's said in Spanish, but it's hard to believe that he said that to the referee so clearly. That's what I meant."

Q: "There's been a lot of talk about VAR. Are you in favor of it?"
A: "Yes, I like VAR and I'm in favor of it, but I think it's not being well implemented, there are still a lot of doubts and plays have a lot of interpretations so there is always talk around certain plays.

I think that VAR should clear up doubts and right now it isn't doing that."

Q: "The last CL you won was still with Xavi and Iniesta. Xavi wasn't a starter anymore, but he played. Was there a void left by them? Is it being filled now by Arthur and De Jong?"
A: "It was obvious that there would be a void left by them. We knew that finding players like

them was impossible. We had a midfield that made us have the ball 90% of the time and when we lost it we got it back in 5 seconds. We knew that they would be missed. I think that we have great midfielders now, but Iniesta and Xavi were unique

and that's why the way we play has also changed. Everything went through them and not having them obviously changed things."

Q: "Xavi said he wouldn't have a problem coming back and coaching players he had as teammates. Can you imagine him as your coach?"
A: "Xavi will return when he wants to. He's preparing, learning and at one point he will be back and I think it will be like when Pep returned."

Q: "Will you live that moment as a player?"
A: "I don't know. It depends..."
Q: "Obviously you can play for a long as you want to. Do you have an "expiration date" like yogurt or...?(laughs)"
A: "No, no. I just go by how I feel every season, seeing how I am and if I can continue.

We're at an age when it starts to get harder and that's normal, but I can't say "I'll play until I'm 35 or 36" because then when I'm 35 or 36 maybe I can't move at all and I don't want to just be here, want to be well and able to compete and help out."

Q: "Did what happen with Valdes surprise you?"
A: "Everything surprised me a bit. From the moment he came back to how things were handled. I can't talk a lot about it because I don't know a lot,

I just saw that there was a lot of information coming out, a lot of news reports about Victor Valdes and I was surprised that he left this way."

Q: "Was your best version the one during the Guardiols years, this one now or one that we haven't seen yet?"
A: "I don't know. I've tried to improve and better myself every year. I think that those years with Guardiola were very special, but as a player I grew a lot after that."

Q: "The best moment of your career? Can you pick one?"
A: "It's difficult. I've been fortunate to have a lot of great moments and at different stages in my life. For everything that we lived in those days, I think Guardiola's years were the best."
Q: "And the worst?"

A: "What I said earlier: 2013, 2014.. I was also injured for a couple of months, I went to Argentina to recover..."

Q: "Your best goal?"
A: "The 2009 CL final one, the header."
Q: "Most difficult defenders you've faced?"
A: "I can't pick one, but we've faced many teams that were strong and well drilled defensively."

Q: "Best team you've played against? One whose quality just amazed you."
A: "The Spain NT we played a friendly with in 2010 before the WC. The last friendly Argentina had with Spain also reminded me of how we used to play, annoying the opposition with ball possession."

Q: "Best game you've played?"
A: "The one I remember most fondly is the Madrid CL semifinal that we won 2-0. I don't know if it was my best game, or the team's best game, but it's an unique memory for me."

Q: "Is there a player that you wouldn't want to play with again?"
A: "No, no, I've always had a good relationship with everyone that's come through the dressing room, I don't think anyone can say a bad thing about our relationship."

Q: "Best coach you've worked with?"
A: "I think Pep is the best coach of all of them and Luis Enrique is a very close second."

Q: "Do you miss Cristiano being in La Liga?"
A: "I would have liked for him to stay at Madrid, in La Liga. I think it added something to the rivalry, to the Clasico and to the league itself."

Q: "Madrid is also going through problems right now. Do you think they'll keep competing at the top?"
A: "Yes, they'll keep doing it because they're Madrid, they have great players, but I said it at the start of last season that they'll feel Cristiano's absence

for all he meant, any team would have felt it. But regardless of that, they have players to fight for everything and they have their history behind them."

Q: "Speaking of Cristiano, have you ever said that you want to finish your career with more BDOs than him?"
A: "No, no, I haven't"

Q: "How many balls do you have at home?"
A: "BDOs or...?"
Q: "Match balls and all..."
A: "I honestly don't know."
Q: "Do you have like a museum at home for them?"
A: "Yeah, with all the awards and shirts and everything. Have them all saved."

Q: "One of the previous interviews I did with you was the one with the famous line about Mr. Faus now knowing football. Was that a moment when you've had enough?"
A: "Yeah, it was a difficult time for me and I felt like I got hit from inside the club,

by people who should have been supporting me so that was a moment when I said I couldn't take it anymore and felt like I needed to answer it."

Q: "I think the worst interview I ever did in my career was one with you after your debut against Porto in 2003."
*awkward 16 year old audio plays*
A: "Yeah, I was 16, it was all new to me and I suffered a lot doing interviews, I still don't enjoy it, I don't feel comfortable,

but I feel like I've grown a lot in this aspect, gotten more comfortable, which is normal with age..."

Q: "Do you felt the weight of the captain's armband?"
A: "No, I don't feel it that way. It's a beautiful responsibility and I'm very proud because of what it means."

Q: "How come you don't talk in Catalan?"
A: "Because I've never done it, I've always spoken Spanish, even to those who spoke Catalan to me. I've never been fluent in it so it just never happened."
Q: "But your kids do."
A: "Yeah, they've learned since they were little."

Q: "What did receiving the Creu de Sant Jordi mean to you?"
A: "It was really emotional for me. Different to all the individual awards and anything else I've won. For all it meant and for completing a certain part of my life.

I've lived here for longer than I did in Argentina, all my life is here, my sons are Catalans, Mateo was born on September 11th, impossible for anyone to be more Catalan than that (laughs) and being awarded with this just completed it."

Q: "You know you're raising a little monster in Mateo, right?"
A: "Yes, yes (laughs), we're trying to reign him in a little."
Q: "Is he really like this?"
A: "People laugh with the stories I tell, but then they meet him for 5 minutes and realize I wasn't lying about anything."

Q: "Is he a bastard?"
A: "Yes, completely."

And we're done. Thank you all for bearing with me spamming your TL.