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All the reaction: Denmark v Sweden

John Guidetti said Sweden would relish their role of outsider in the U21 EURO final after pipping neighbours Denmark, who acknowledged they had been second best in Prague.

Sweden players celebrate their semi-final triumph in Prague
Sweden players celebrate their semi-final triumph in Prague ©Getty Images

John Guidetti, Sweden forward
It's amazing! We showed why we're here at this tournament and why we deserve to be in the final. We were clearly the better team today. We scored four fantastic goals. We maybe dropped a little too deep in the second half, but it's normal when you're so close to a European final. We've beaten what many people have been calling Denmark's best-ever U21 team, so we must be quite good as well.

Of course I was a bit nervous before the penalty. But before the game, they had said they were happier to be playing us than Italy, so all the pressure was on them. We had already done fantastically. We just went out there and enjoyed it and were proud to play for our country.

We knew we would get the chance to counterattack because they had to take risks in the second half. We have quality players who scored the third and fourth goals, and I think it's a fully deserved win, and we're through to the final. We knew today that we could at least match them today. Perhaps against Portugal we'll be underdogs, but we like that.

Håkan Ericson, Sweden coach
We expected a very good game. Denmark have a very good passing game, but we knew that they had some problems defending when we got the ball, and today we succeeded in exploiting them.

We talked at half-time that 2-0 was not enough for us. It's normal that a team that's two down pushes very, very hard to get a goal. We knew we would be under pressure. We knew that we had to stay calm, and that we would get the opportunity to hit them on the counterattack the longer the match went on.

Guidetti leads Sweden celebrations

Some teams are quicker and more technical than us, but we are very well organised tactically. We have a team that thinks anything is possible and fantastic team spirit. So, it's possible to win football matches with those qualities.

To reach the final after coming through a difficult group is a great boost for the team. Today Portugal showed they're a very good team, but we played them just a few weeks ago and we drew 1-1. They have now beaten a great football nation like Germany, so that boosts our confidence a lot.

Jess Thorup, Denmark coach
In the first half, we didn't play how we wanted to, and suddenly we were 2-0 down. We had to step up for the second half, and I thought we played OK. We got a goal back, we tried something, but we lost 4-1 to a better Swedish team.

When a goal is scored, there is always a mistake, and we made some with the first two goals. We tried to come back, but we weren't good enough in the decisive moments today. We managed to step up after half-time, believing in ourselves. We got the goal and we were desperate for the second. We had the chances but in the end we have to say that we weren't good enough or clever enough to win the match.

If you had said before we came here that we would go through to the semi-finals as group winners, we would have said that would be a perfect tournament. But when you're in the last four, you want to go through to the final, and we're very disappointed.

Jannik Vestergaard shows his frustration
Jannik Vestergaard shows his frustration©Getty Images

Uffe Bech, Denmark
The match could have gone both ways. They scored, and then two or three minutes later, one of our players slipped and suddenly it's 2-0. From then on, it was difficult. Our half-time was good; we came out well in the second half, we stepped up and we started pressuring Sweden. We got a goal, but it wasn't enough.

The coach wasn't happy at half-time, but none of us were. Our first-half performance wasn't enough. We wanted to go through to the final, so we had to step up our game. I think we did that, but today Sweden were more efficient than us. They scored their chances and we didn't. It's fair enough Sweden go through to the final, but it wasn't a 4-1 game.

There are some positives, of course, but right now I don't see any of them. Right now, we're just extremely disappointed we didn't get the win today. We really hoped to reach the final and we didn't, so right now there's nothing but disappointment. Maybe in a few weeks I think we can look back at the tournament with a lot of pride, winning a group with Germany in it was a great achievement, but we're just disappointed right now that we didn't make it to the final.

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