Santisteban enjoys 'strange feeling'

Spain coach Juan Santisteban was quietly satisfied after his side eventually overcame a determined France effort to become the first team to reach successive UEFA European Under-19 Championship finals, the holders emerging victorious 4-2 in a penalty shoot-out after 120 goalless minutes. Goalkeeper Sergio Asenho was the hero, coming off the bench to replace the injured Felipe Ramos and saving from Kévin Monnet-Paquet and Quentin Othon to set up a rematch with Greece in Linz on Friday night, when Spain will be without suspended captain Javier Martínez and Ángel Mantoro. For France coach Guy Ferrier, meanwhile, there was considerable pride despite the disappointment of defeat.

Juan Santisteban, Spain coach
It's a strange feeling; penalties is always a game of chance and this time it was on our side. I'm satisfied, there were two good teams but it's a fair result. We had more chances to win, France played well as well but we're happy with the result. I knew it would be hard game between two very good teams. I expected it would be a matter of strength and effort to win and we showed it for all 120 minutes. This team has only been together for a short time and they've achieved such a lot. The suspensions will cost us in terms of their quality and work-rate for 90 minutes, but other players can come in and make a contribution. We hope Ramos will be back for the final but we'll have to wait and see; if not, Sergio can come in and do a good job. He was in the U17 side in Luxembourg last year so he's used to big games. We had practiced penalties a lot in training, the players took 40 each in our last session. We had to do that as we knew the game could be settled like that and we had to be ready for it.

Guy Ferrier, France coach
Penalties are always a lottery and this time it didn’t go our way. It's frustrating because we had the better of the match so the result is disappointing. We had control of the match, although we were missing Rudy Gestede and we felt his absence. Our attitude and style were really good. Spain are a great team who defend very well, they have really good players and real depth in their squad and they beat us with a bit more experience in penalty shoot-outs. For the two players who missed, it's hard but they have to be calm now. Over the whole of the tournament we’ve shown we have a great team, and our country can produce great players. They can be very proud of what they've achieved; in general we've given a very good image of French football.