Van Gaal grateful for margins of error

Cesare Prandelli was left to ponder how his ACF Fiorentina team managed to win six out of the eight UEFA Champions League games and still get eliminated on away goals. The difference, he concluded, was FC Bayern München's superior experience, though counterpart Louis van Gaal warned his side would not get away with so "many individual errors" in the quarter-finals.

Cesare Prandelli, Fiorentina coach
I have always said that when we have a full squad available we can do great things. We have only had problems [this season] when we have had a crisis with injuries. Vargas was injured but showed great spirit to play and score anyway. We are out of the competition despite winning six games out of eight and facing teams superior to us on paper.

We should really have defended better after twice taking a two-goal lead; most likely [Bayern's] experience at this level made the difference. I congratulated and thanked the whole team as I could not have asked for more tonight. I'm proud of what we achieved in the Champions League this term.

Louis van Gaal, Bayern coach
Under those circumstances [the strong winds] we played some good football, but made too many individual mistakes, especially at the back. It was not easy for us in this weather, but wasn't easy for Fiorentina either. We should have used the space better in the last ten minutes and really, we performed better than a 3-2 defeat suggests. But we made too many individual errors, which made life difficult.

Franck Ribéry put in a strong performance in the second half but for the second goal he did not mark his opponent. He played a big part in that success by brilliantly setting up our first goal. But today, we have also seen what we are still lacking. We have to improve on that. We can play a dominant game, but we did not do so over 90 minutes today, the way we should. But we are through, and in the end that's what counts.