Former Argentina star Walter Samuel will retire from football at the end of the season.
Basel defender Samuel, 37, enjoyed a successful career with clubs including Boca Juniors, Roma, Real Madrid and Inter Milan but said he was struggling to keep up with the physical demands of the game and now had to listen to his body.
"I still want to play, but now I have physical difficulties," he told Neue Zurcher Zeitung. "Even so, it's not an easy decision, not at all."
Samuel, who joined Basel in the summer of 2014 and won the Swiss Super League last season, had the most successful spell of his career at Inter, where he won Serie A five times, the Coppa Italia three times and the Champions League once.
He played under Jose Mourinho in the Treble-winning 2009-10 season and said: "With Mourinho, we won the Champions League. His two years at Inter shaped not only the club but also the players.
"In public, he seemed very confrontational, but we had a good understanding."
Despite his career successes, Samuel said he did not have any special status at Basel.
"Not at all," he said. "I don't feel as though I'm something special. On the contrary, off the field, I am silent. I talk with my friends, of course, but I'm rather shy."
He said he would miss the dressing room more than anything else after his retirement.
"You get so used to it," he said. "It's like with school -- no sooner do you go away for the holidays than you want to get back again, see your friends, make jokes, to see if someone new has arrived. That's what I'm going to miss."
He said he would not miss the playing side as much, having been a professional for 19 years, but added: "Of course, I will miss the emotions. I'm not made of stone -- there are moments in the stadium that move me.
"I'll have to find something that keeps me busy. I am still young. Not young for a footballer, but young otherwise."