Neid calms rampant Germany

Germany coach Silvia Neid was thrilled by her side's punishing 4-0 defeat of Norway in their opening UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009™ Group B fixture but warned that her team have a long way to go if they want to claim a fifth straight title. It was still 1-0 with one minute to go and Norway's Bjarne Berntsen felt the scoreline did not reflect the balance of the game.

Silvia Neid, Germany coach
I thought we played very well in the first half, although it didn't do my nerves any good going in at the interval with just a 1-0 lead after creating so many chances. But the main thing was that we didn't allow frustration to get to us. I have to compliment my team. I knew they were capable of that kind of performance and they have proved it to me; everyone worked very hard. Now we can look forward to the match against France, but we can't get ahead of ourselves as that will be a very different match. Overall, though, we can take a lot of positives and we will be delighted if we can continue performing as we did today.

Kim Kulig, Germany midfielder & Carlsberg Player of the Match
It was a great result for us and I think we played very well. I am very happy with my performance, but I would also like to pay tribute to my team-mates. Any one of them could have been voted the best on the pitch today.

Bjarne Berntsen, Norway coach
I really don't think the final result was a fair reflection on the match. Germany played very well and, of course, they deserved the win. But I think we allowed our heads to go down after they scored the second goal in the final few minutes of the match. It's a hard result to take, but we must be positive and believe we can come back from this.

Ingrid Hjelmseth, Norway goalkeeper
Of course it's disappointing. For them to have scored the three goals after the 90-minute mark was tough. But I think we can move on from this and I think we can do better against Iceland and France.