Master Lozano inspired Venancio

José Venancio, Spain coach
Congratulations to Italy for making the final the spectacle that it was. They played their part in what was a fantastic end to the tournament. We trained hard before the finals with one month of intense work. We felt we were fully prepared to last for the whole tournament both physically and mentally. Maybe we didn't start off as a the perfect team but I think we finished with people thinking that Spain were the best team here. Admittedly we had luck along the way, especially in the semi-final against Portugal, a match we could easily have lost. In the final we scored at the perfect times from a coaching point of view. Suddenly Italy found themselves in a completely different situation, they were forced to attack, they were forced to fight and I think our superior fitness told in the end. In the second half Italy looked very tired. I'd like to dedicate this victory to my players and thank my family for their patience but I think this is a time to say thank you to the man that taught me everything, my master Javier Lozano. I worked with him for 15 years and every good thing I have done at this tournament I learned from him. He left me with a class team. As of 30 June, I will be doing this job full time.

Alessandro Nuccorini, Italy coach
I congratulate Spain, I was a little bit disappointed with the way we played after playing what many described as a perfect match against Russia. I know my team gave their all but it was no surprise that we looked tired in the second half after what has been a tough tournament physically. It was a new experience for my players to find themselves a goal behind but we were still in it until the goal early in the second half. Suddenly Spain showed the class we knew they had and they had a magical nine minutes. Looking to the future I think my team have the talent to win a tournament like this, we can only hope that perhaps one day Spain won't be perfect.