Wenger relishing final reward

Arsenal FC reached their first UEFA Champions League final amid late drama at Villarreal CF. Leading 1-0 through Kolo Touré's first-leg strike, the English side never got into their stride in Spain and Diego Forlán and Guillermo Franco had a number of chances to restore overall parity. The hosts' golden opportunity came in the final minute after Arsenal substitute Gaël Clichy was adjudged to have fouled José María Romero but Jens Lehmann dived to his left to keep out Juan Román Riquelme's spot-kick, extend his team's run of UEFA Champions League clean sheets to ten, and most significantly, take Arsenal into the 17 May showpiece against either FC Barcelona or AC Milan.

Manuel Pellegrini, Villarreal coach
It is difficult to explain how we feel. We were even better than Arsenal at Highbury and deserve to be in the final. We thought we could make it because we were better from start to finish. We had at least four or five chances to score and then we had the penalty. The players are very sad, they are gutted and that is understandable. I'm proud of the way they played but we also have a feeling of frustration because we played so well and just couldn't make it. Riquelme took the responsibility that big players have to take and he took it in a difficult moment in the match.

Arsène Wenger, Arsenal manager
This completes the work of nine years for me and my staff, and is reward for the confidence Arsenal have placed in me. Villarreal gave a very good performance. They played well tactically and technically, and one of the reasons they were better is that they were fresher physically because on Saturday they were able to rest players when they played in the Primera División. I'm very happy to get to Paris as Arsenal were not expected to be there and now we've finally got to the final. Despite not playing as well as we can, we deserve to be in the final because we have eliminated Juventus, Real Madrid [CF] and Villarreal. Before the penalty I said to myself that if it is our year, Jens will save it. I knew he had strength of character, and I knew he would not be beaten easily.

Diego Forlán, Villarreal forward
We are very sad and frustrated because we know that everybody only remembers the finalists in the Champions League and we could not make it. We had a lot of chances and were clearly better than them, but we just could not do it. We were convinced before the game that we could qualify and we spoke about that in the dressing room before the start, and for that reason we played as well as we did.

Robert Pirès, Arsenal midfielder
We are happy to get to the final. It is historic for Arsenal. We have to be proud of that, even if we are not champions yet. It is like a dream, it is not every day you get to the Champions League final. Considering we outplayed big names in Europe in previous rounds, we deserve to be in final. Now we face either Barcelona or Milan, but I think they will also be wary of us.