ON BARCELONA, GUARDIOLA AND MESSI
"It started well but then Messi started to talk. He wanted to play in the middle, not on the wing, so the system changed from 4-3-3 to 4-5-1. I was sacrificed and no longer had the freedom on the pitch I need to succeed. So I asked for a meeting with Guardiola - for a discussion, not an argument. I said I was being used in the wrong way and that they shouldn't have bought me if they wanted another type of player. I told him what a friend had said to me - "you bought a Ferrari but drive it like a Fiat". The chat seemed to go well but then Guardiola started to freeze me out. I would walk into a room; he would leave. He would greet everyone by saying hello, but would ignore me."
''I had done a lot to adapt - the Barca players were like schoolboys, following the coach blindly, whereas I was used to asking "why?" I like guys who run red lights, not pedantic and strict rules. So I tried to be overly nice, didn't dare lose my temper. But after this I stopped trying to adapt. For example, at Barca players were banned from driving their sports cars to training. I thought this was ridiculous - it was no one's business what car I drive - so in April, before a match with Almeria, I drove my Ferrari Enzo to work. It caused a scene.''
''Pep was staring at me and I lost it. I thought 'there is my enemy, scratching his bald head'. I yelled to him: 'You have no balls!' And probably worse things than that. I added: 'You are s****ing yourself because of [then Inter manager Jose] Mourinho [whose side beat Barca in the Champions League]. You can go to hell!' I was completely mad."
''I threw a box full of training gear across the room, it crashed to the floor and Pep said nothing, just put stuff back in the box. I'm not violent, but if I were Guardiola I would have been frightened.''
