Italy improvement has Rocca in raptures

Italy coach Francesco Rocca was in jubilant mood after a goal from substitute Fernando Forestieri took his team into the final of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship for the second time with a narrow victory against Hungary in Plzen, telling his players to "enjoy" the win and look forward to Saturday's decisive match in Jablonec. The beaten Tibor Sisa, meanwhile, declared his pride in his side's impressive displays in the Czech Republic despite the disappointment of defeat.

Francesco Rocca, Italy coach
In the first half we found it really heavy going, which was a big surprise for me because I didn't recognise my team at all. At half-time, I spoke strongly to the players, changed some things and they improved a lot in the second half. We changed our tactics; in the first half we played 4-4-2 and tried to push them back, but that wasn't possible because they played two attacking midfielders between our midfield and defence. This was my mistake, I asked my players to do some things they'd never done before. In the second half, we used Forestieri and [Alberto] Paloschi out wide and [Stefano] Okaka Chuka on his own up front – so it was a 4-2-3-1 – and we also we performed physically a lot better. Then I started to recognise my players again.

Technically Hungary were very good, especially in the first half. They really made it tough for us, especially with those two attacking midfielders, but in the second half they weren't as strong physically and we managed to get the win. Now we can enjoy it – we've reached the final and that's obviously really good for us.

Tibor Sisa, Hungary coach
I would like to congratulate Italy for getting to the final and I'm really sad that we couldn't make our fans a little happier today. It was a really good game between two good teams and maybe it would have been a little unfair had we won. Italy scored one goal, we didn't and so they deserved to win – I hope we will have the chance in the future to take revenge. I'm very proud of my team, you could see the Hungarian style in each of our four games. You need to play different ways against different opponents, and we did really well against Italy, but they scored and we didn't.

It's strange to say given we've lost but I'm proud of my team today. It's been a great finals for us overall, and I don't think the European or Hungarian public can be upset with the style and quality of our football. Many of our players have done well, I wouldn't like to pick anyone out, it's the whole team. They proved that the team spirit is what counts – it's not just the forwards or defenders, but the goalkeepers and midfielders too. The whole team has done it for us.