Jan Vertonghen interviewed by David Hytner

Jan Vertonghen interviewed by David Hytner in the Observer early in March.

"...we are in a strong team and we are getting stronger..."

"...we get the respect... teams are not happy when they have to face us..."

"...we put ourselves under pressure because we deserve to be up there and have the qualities..."

"I can be quite fiery... I was worse when I was younger but even now... I sometimes want to scream, I can be very angry..."

The portrait by Andy Hall shows him wary-eyed, as if mistrusting the interviewer (the distillation of his comments reveal someone supremely confident, which is at variance with the doubting expression in the photograph). Ridiculous watch.  The face unlined and showing a glowing sort of perfection, as if it had been airbrushed.

Oscar dos Santos Emboaba Junior

Oscar dos Santos Emboaba Junior interviewed in today's Observer by Dominic Fifield.

"...the word he repeats over and over again is tempo".

"...we're a young team, a new team, with good players..."

"...we will prove our quality. It's a question of time.  The more games we play together the more we mature."

"Hopefully I can continue my own development and show my own quality."

The accompanying photograph is by Richard Saker.  Despite being a portrait it is an abstract study of agility.  The limbs seem to be like a coiled spring about to burst into energy.  The way the light interacts with the tones of grey and white is very fine.  The face has a soft appearance as if yet to be marked by life.  In full, the actual portrait takes up only about a quarter of the photograph, showing an effective (and courageous) use of space by the photographer (and editor).

Rugby player Ben Youngs

Interview by Michael Aylwin in the Observer today with rugby player Ben Youngs:

"You get such a feeling of everyone being in it together, which is a great feeling."

"The biggest thing is game understanding and knowing what I want to do and how to execute things."

"You have to make mistakes to understand what you want to do next time."

In the accompanying photograph (by Graham Hughes) Youngs is shown at an oblique angle to the camera, which looks upwards at him.  Back slightly arched and head tilted upwards to look at the tossed rugby ball (and also what seems to be the source of the light).  Ovals dominate the composition - oval ball, oval face, oval eyes within the face.