'Fantastic' Wales punch above their weight

Chris Coleman, Wales manager
Our focus was on putting ourselves in a position where we'd have a chance in the last game of making the last 16. When you look at a group with England, Russia and Slovakia you knew it would be tough and it went to the last game; that tells you about the group.

To progress was fantastic, I've got to say how proud I was of my players. They were brave in possession and made a lot of chances, on the back of a crushing defeat by England. We enjoyed tonight. As a nation geographically we are small but if you judge us by passion you could say we were a continent tonight.

Neil Taylor showed great composure to score. When he plays as a wing-back for us, we've got to push him forward as wing-backs give us our width. In my wildest dreams I never thought Tayls would get a goal but he deserves it, he's been fantastic.

You saw the reaction from the other players when he got his goal: delight and surprise. Three games in ten or 11 days is tough, especially after what happened in the England game.

• Match report: Russia 0-3 Wales
• Slutski offers to step down after Russia's elimination
• England held by Slovakia

Leonid Slutski, Russia manager
I'd like to apologise to the Russian supporters for our performances, including tonight's game. The fans in the stadium or in front of their TVs don't deserve this level of play.

I take responsibility as we had time to prepare and find players and if we weren't able to do that, it really is my mistake. So I'd like to say the following: I don't want you to focus too much on the individual players but me and my responsibility.

After a tournament like this you need someone else in charge. We were poor today and we deserved to lose the game. We were bad in every area.

Aaron Ramsey, man of the match
It was a fantastic team performance. Against England we perhaps let the occasion get to us when we had possession and that was the main thing that we wanted to do tonight – go out there and play football. We showcased that unbelievably well. Defensively we work hard and we're a good team that can break the lines, create opportunities and finish them.

It was a fantastic feeling to score in this competition. We've waited a long time to experience what it's like and to score a goal was a fantastic feeling. It was a great ball from Joe Allen, he saw the run early then I saw the goalkeeper so I lifted it over him and thankfully it went in.

Gareth Bale, Wales forward
Everything was on this game. It was in our own hands and we said before just to go out there, enjoy ourselves, have no regrets. The performance was probably the best I've been involved in. We said we didn't just want to come here and make up the numbers. We wanted to put a real effort in and to win the group, we can't do any more than that. Now we can look forward to who we've got next.

Ashley Williams, Wales captain
To bounce back from the disappointment of conceding a last-minute goal against England shows the togetherness of the group, the strength, the professionalism and the experience that we've had over the years. I said yesterday that I was in a confident mood and I had no doubt we'd perform well. We won't get carried away. We'll enjoy it tonight, we'll recover and we'll go again.