MUNICH: Following is reaction to Spain’s 2-1 win over France in the semi-finals of Euro 2024 on Tuesday after first-half goals from Lamine Yamal and Dani Olmo:
Spain goalscorer Dani Olmo: “There is one step missing. It is unbelievable to be in the final. It does not matter who scored my goal (which deflected into the net off Jules Kounde) it was important for the team. We deserve to be in this final. We´re a step away from glory.
“It was unfortunate to fall a goal behind but we did not give up. Then Lamine scored an absolutely unbelievable goal. It does not matter who we have in the final.”
Spain goalscorer and player-of-the-match Lamine Yamal: “I’m very happy to have made it to the final. Now the most important thing is to win it.
“We were in a difficult moment, you wouldn’t expect a goal so soon, I wanted to put it in where it went in, and I’m very happy. I try not to think too much, enjoy it and help the team and if it works out like this, I’m happy and content with the victory. I want to win, win and win. I’ll celebrate my birthday here in Germany with my team.”
Spain defender Nacho: “Happy and exhausted after that match. It’s emotional for all the country. We showed lots of character and how you grow with adversity.”
France coach Didier Deschamps: “Spain proved tonight that they are a very good team. We were fortunate to open the scoring, but they caused us problems because they were superior in terms of control.
“Tonight they showed all their qualities. We were… perhaps a little less fresh, which led to some technical waste, particularly in the construction of the game. We didn’t push forward often enough.”
“We tried to do our best with what we had and tried to be as efficient as possible. It was great we were able to open the scoring and the Spanish side mastered the game better. We didn’t perform so well, we didn’t play as vertically as we had wished, we pushed all the way to the end. I won’t say my players didn’t give it all. They didn’t all play at their 100% capacity for several reasons.”
