Spain successful in clipping Romania's wings

José Venancio López, Spain coach
I have to congratulate Romania on reaching the quarter-finals and for having complicated the game in the first half. They showed boldness in the first half and initiated a game of one-on-one. The first half was very even. But in the second half we showed a lot of character, especially when we conceded the third goal. And then, at 5-3, we defended well against the flying goalkeeper. We kept it very quiet in those minutes, and we played to a very high standard in the second half.

They have scored three great goals. The first two were spectacular, and the third was also very nice. We had played against Romania before. The first experience we had was in Spain, where they surprised us with the flying goalkeeper. But this time we knew they were going to use it. We had worked hard on it.

Alemao, Spain winger
I think in the quarter-finals there are no easy games. All matches are very difficult from now on. You have to be at 100%. We relaxed a bit when we scored the first goal, and we allowed them to get into the game. But in the second half we were much better, and we defended very well against their flying goalkeeper. That was one of the keys. We managed to score early in the second half, and that was a positive for us. We knew they were going to use the flying goalkeeper to balance the game, because otherwise we are far superior. It was their weapon, but we knew it.

Kike, Spain defender
The result does not reflect what really happened. They played their cards, playing with a flying goalkeeper for a long time. They played the right game. It is true that we did not take advantage of the chances we had in the first half, so we suffered a little. But in the second half we were better and in the end we achieved a comfortable result.

We knew they were going to use the flying goalkeeper on many occasions, we had spoken about that. But we knew how to manage it, and eventually we won deservedly.

Sito Rivera, Romania coach
We played the best team in the quarter-finals and we played well in the first half. However, in the second half we were not able to keep pressing to the same extent and this was a big problem. We couldn't press like in the first half.

We tried to keep the game at the same level and we got back to 4-3 and in the last minutes we planned to play a flying goalkeeper. But Spain are a very strong team, they scored two goals from set pieces and from that moment, with a difference of three goals, it was impossible to come back.

In Romania we have only played futsal since 2003. This is a very good result, we are in the top eight in Europe, but if we had a little bit more luck we could have beaten Croatia in the first game, got to stay in Split and play Ukraine, I think that would have been a very close game. We knew it would be difficult against Spain, if we did not perform at our maximum level they would destroy us.

Emil Răducu, Romania forward
The match started well for us, the first half was very balanced. But in the second half we played the flying goalkeeper and it didn't go well. When you play against Spain it is tough, they're champions. In the second half we dropped physically. Normally we play very well with the flying goalkeeper, but against Spain it is not easy.