Clever Quote by Matthijs de Ligt

I have been fascinated by the Italian way of defending from an early age.

— Matthijs de Ligt

The toughest defenders I've faced are Alessandro Nesta, Paolo Maldini, Ivan Cordoba, Ciro Ferrara and Walter Samuel.

— Filippo Inzaghi

Maxime Bossis was the complete defender. Great agility, and with his long legs he was speedy, very quick. Strong physically when he needed to…

— Marcel Desailly

These guys were the best. They were the best at their positions and made playing the game easier. And at the same time it…

— Johnny Bench

I learned a lot with Andre Villas-Boas at Porto. He is very intelligent tactically. He was almost so well informed about the opponents that…

— Hulk

Mario Balotelli is undoubtedly the greatest talent of Italian football.

— Giorgio Chiellini

For me, the defender I respect the most is Giorgio Chiellini. He's one of the best defenders in the world. I really like the…

— Edinson Cavani

I learned a lot from my three coaches at Juventus. Man-marking from Maurizio Sarri, playing out from the back from Andrea Pirlo, and 'pure…

— Matthijs de Ligt

As a player, I was very lucky to have so many good managers in my career. I remember the first two at Lecce: Eugenio…

— Antonio Conte

In World Cup qualifying in 1997, I will never forget Tony Adams and Sol Campbell: two very strong lions physically and mentally. Italy too…

— Christian Vieri

When I was little, I loved Alessandro Del Piero, who made history with Juventus and the national team. And growing up, once I took…

— Marco Verratti

Tactically, Italians are very strong. They are a lot into tactics: how to defend, when you lose the ball, where will you be?

— Samir Nasri