Milan deserved it, admits Hitzfeld

FC Bayern München coach Ottmar Hitzfeld admitted his side were second best after AC Milan's 2-0 second-leg victory in Germany took the Italian team through to the semi-finals on a 4-2 aggregate scoreline - a result that left Carlo Ancelotti full of praise for his players.

Ottmar Hitzfeld, Bayern coach
Milan were the better team, but there was no real difference in quality between the two sides. In the first 15 minutes the match was balanced, but then my team suddenly lost their heads. We gave the ball away too easily for the first goal. [Clarence] Seedorf is an extraordinary player but he shouldn't have been allowed to get into a shooting position with as much space as he had. As for the second goal we shouldn't have allowed [Filippo] Inzaghi to get into that position - these mistakes proved costly. In the second half we found a way back into the game and had a few chances. We were in good shape, perfectly prepared and had big plans for this match, but I have to admit that we don't have the class of Milan. When they let the ball flow between their players, it is technical perfection. They play very intelligently and capitalise on every little mistake. They are one of the greatest teams in the world.

Carlo Ancelotti, Milan coach
I think this was a great performance by my team. It was not easy to wrest back the initiative in the tie after the first leg, and we didn't expect to score so easily in the first half, but now we have the opportunity to continue representing Italian football in the competition. You need experience as well as technical ability to do well in the UEFA Champions League and we are very experienced. We couldn't take it for granted that we would reach the quarter-finals, but we're still here and I'm happy about that. Manchester United [FC] will be a great test for us but we want to reach the final in Athens and show what we are capable of.