Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar

You hope to bring your 'A Game' to any game, and of course you do in a final. You hope to bring experience, fitness, communication skills, motivational skills.

Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar

If you win, everyone asks what's your secret, when most of the time you did exactly the same in the ones you lost.

Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar

The Dutch league is not one of the strongest five leagues in the world, or even Europe, and that's why it is difficult to maintain.

Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar

I've been the captain at Ajax and once for the national team - it's nice and makes you an important player.

Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar

Running a marathon is unlike anything I have done. You can recall all those bad weights sessions or the work you had to do in pre-season, but marathon running is worse than any of it, probably the hardest thing I have had to do in my entire life.

Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar

Off the field, Ronaldo was also focusing on everything extensively, such as resting up properly and strengthening his body. After training sessions, he would often work on his free-kicks and then come to me and say, 'Edwin, can you go in goal?'

Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar

Personally, I don't think about the things I have won but the things I have lost.

Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar

As a goalkeeper, you always expect every team to give you nightmares.

Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar

You have to get your motivation from within, and it doesn't matter if you lose in the quarters, the semis, or the final. You must want to have another chance of winning the trophy.

Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar

We need a solution for European football. You need to help smaller clubs in European competitions get the right distribution of money so they can invest in coaches and attract talent for the level they can play at.

Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar

I share a special bond with Ajax. I think we are a special club. And we're known for our philosophy around the world.

Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar

If you go to Juventus, you want to go for longer than two years, and you want to win titles.

Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar

A lot of the guys who played in the 1995 final for Ajax had been there since the age of 12 or 13. Patrick Kluivert and Edgar Davids had been there from age seven or eight, so I had a lot of catching up to do.

Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar

The leagues in the countries around us are probably more interesting and played at a higher level, but in general, we are happy with the way we have moved things forward with Ajax, together with Marc Overmars as technical director, to establish a squad that can compete at the highest level.

Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar

I went to Fulham for the project they explained to me - but it didn't really work out. I might have been playing at a high level for the national team, but I was starting to miss those European nights and challenging for titles.

Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar

I think every player gives a bit extra when he sees that his manager is fighting, too.

Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar

We want to bring our own players through. That is what people like about Ajax.

Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar

You don't need only your strikers. You need your defenders to be on top of their game. You need a midfield to work hard and track back, and I suppose you need a goalkeeper who makes saves once in a while.

Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar

I'm just not very rock n' roll.

Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar

Ajax has always been about homegrown players developed in a small country.