Turkey bask in semi-final triumph

An exhilarating UEFA European Under-19 Championship semi-final in Fribourg was ultimately settled by Turkish striker Kerim Zengin, who earned his side a meeting with Spain in Saturday's final in Nyon with a low shot in the 107th minute. Goran Antic had put hosts Switzerland in front only for Sezer Öztürk to restore parity within two minutes with a long-distance free-kick. The same player put Gündüz Tekin Onay's team in front five minutes into extra time with another powerful free-kick before Zengin effectively settled the match, despite Slavisa Dugic's late second goal for the Swiss. uefa.com rounds up the reaction.

SWITZERLAND 2-3 TURKEY (after extra time)
Müdjat Yalman, Turkey assistant coach
Obviously we are very, very happy. We said beforehand that we were coming here aiming to reach the final and we have achieved that. We have been preparing for this for several years, tactically and physically, in order to go as far as possible in this competition; there is a new, superb generation of Turkish players, and we are seeing our policy begin to bear fruit. It was a great match between two strong sides who both played to win, but one must always win and one lose, and I think the right team won. We have a specific tactical system and play a compact style, as a strong team unit. This was very effective, and we had more technically gifted players – this is a great specificity of Turkish players – and in our work, we aim to produce players that are able to combine physical strength with technical skill. We are delighted to have won and now must go on to the final.

Pierre-André Schürmann, Switzerland coach
Of course I am frustrated to lose, I thought that we were the better side. Tiredness was not really a factor; it's the same for everyone. We needed more determination in the penalty area in the first half, but my players gave and tried everything, changed the system and tried to do something. I think we have a great future ahead of us, but we have to continue to work hard. We prepared the players thoroughly for this game, and I thought they played very well, but perhaps our final ball was not quite good enough and we did not take our chances. But it takes courage to keep pressing when you are the better team and have not scored, and that is something I think the players will learn. When [Goran] Antic scored the first goal, all the team ran towards the bench and I think that symbolises the solidarity and unity in this team. There are regrets, of course, but I think that the players will learn a lot from this experience.

Johan Djourou, Switzerland
Elimination is hard to take, as I thought we played very well at the start of the match but ran out of luck at the end of extra time. This is a top-quality tournament and a very high standard of football, and we have done well and hope to continue our progress. We were unlucky in the first half, we hit the post and didn't take our chances. There is great spirit in this team, and we win or lose together. I don't think we deserved to lose tonight, but overall we have played very well in this tournament, and the future looks good but we must continue to work hard and there are good signs for the future.