It has been tough when I have been with the national team and we have gone to play in some of the poorer areas in Brazil. You see people come and watch us train or play a match, and then you know some of them are going home with no food on the plate.

Let’s say I don’t need to chase the ball as much as before. You learn to find the shortcuts.

In Brazil, we think we can help by using our image, the fact that we are very well known, to help others. I think lots of footballers want to do something, but many don’t know how.

I’m very happy with where I arrived, both personally and professionally. I can say more so personally, because my career will have to end eventually. I do not know how long it will be, but eventually it will end, and the personal will continue.

Jose Mourinho was a difficult coach for me, and we had a respectful but complicated relationship. When I thought he would give me a chance, I couldn’t prove to him that I was in good shape.

It sounds like a cliché, but without a strong group, you win nothing in football.

I have been in many teams that have had loads of talent but did not make it through and been with teams that did not have that much talent and ended up being champions.

One always wants more when things work out.

At Real Madrid, everything gets taken to extremes, as much for the good things as the bad things, so you have to adapt to the way that the press and the fans live through different situations.

In 2009, I accepted the proposal of Real Madrid, but I was completely destroyed there because I could not give what I had given Milan. I was completely lost.

Playing for Madrid is a great challenge.

Every time I hear the fans, it’s exciting. It gives me a great feeling because I know it comes from their heart.

When I do an interview, when I appear on camera, I want to be the same person as the one you meet personally and say, ‘He is really the same person I saw on television.

You only appreciate what it feels like to win the Champions League after you’ve seen it snatched away from you.

I know it’s hard to follow the example of another team in the same country, but that’s what you have to do sometimes.

Every opportunity that presents itself, my main objective is to conquer and be victorious.

I am always grateful to my team-mates at Milan for what we achieved.

Even Cristiano Ronaldo, who has won two Ballons d’Or with Real Madrid, receives whistles from the Bernabeu.

Often, players at clubs I have been at have asked me for prayers or advice. I prefer to show them things rather than to say things; with my actions, not my words.

In football, there are good and bad times, but if you are a great side, you can be confident of winning trophies again.

Playing motivates players.

It’s not easy to decide what is best for you in the future.

For a player it’s an amazing experience to be at Real Madrid. I matured a lot there, principally as a person.

It’s incredible to win an individual award in a team sport and also one where everybody wants to be able to say, ‘I’m the best.

I would love to have a career like Zinedine Zidane. He stopped playing, took some time, realised he liked coaching, and started working in the youth academy. I could follow a similar path.

I have overcome many difficult moments in my career.

Each goal I score is exciting.

I learned to respect the coach and to do everything within my power to show that I should be the one playing. That’s exactly what I did during my three years under Mourinho.

Mourinho helped me grow. He taught me to be patient, to keep fighting, and to respect the coach’s decisions. He helped me mature and turned me into a man.

When things go well, everyone talks well of you and vice versa. Unfortunately, football is like that.

It’s important for me to keep improving.

When I’m struggling, I can still dream about my successes.

It is not my place to make judgments about the behavior of any other footballer. Cars and women, things like that, have never been important to me. My family, and my belief in God and Jesus are the things which determine my life. I do want to live my life in the right way, and live my life close to God.

I thank God for all the victories and conquests I’ve had this year as a player and I bring to the altar two prizes. This is first my son who is about to be born. The other is my trophy from Fifa, which I want to dedicate to God.

But I have seen il Fenomeno do things that nobody else has ever done.

The World Cup was a huge frustration because I had prepared really hard for it. But in the World Cup there is no formula, no recipe for success.

To take on Madrid is a very good experience.

His ambition for victory sets Mourinho apart. He wants to win every game, so he prepares all the smallest details; in training, at the game, everything. I loved to work with him.

I have my life. I have my values. And compared with much of society, especially football, that is radical.

I learned that it is faith that decides whether something will happen or not.

If things happen it’s because God has prepared me. God has great things for us. If it’s God’s will that I be there, there I will be.