Emotional Aragonés bows out on a high

Luis Aragonés was "full of emotion" after Fernando Torres's first-half goal gave Spain victory in the UEFA EURO 2008™ final – for the country's first silverware since 1964 – and gave the outgoing coach the pleasure of a job well done. For Germany's Joachim Löw, meanwhile, obvious disappointment at the defeat was tempered by the progress shown by his squad and the excitement of the challenges that lay ahead.

Luis Aragonés, Spain coach
We have put together a group that plays well, that keeps the ball and mixes their passes very well and that is difficult to stop. We work hard together, those that play more and those that play slightly less, and we've managed to get there. This is a happy day for Spain – we've won this tournament in style and we're very happy. Now we will start expecting to win on this sort of stage. 

Many people will look at this Spain team because it has been a model for playing football. I think all football lovers want people to make good combinations, to get into the penalty area and to score goals. At the beginning I said that if we managed this squad well, we would be champions. The team just thought I was trying to give them confidence. I just hope Spain carry on in this way and have many more victories.

Fernando Torres is a great player for Liverpool [FC] and for Spain. He can do anything. Why? He has such extraordinary speed and he knows how to dribble at pace. He is so young and could learn to do anything. He could be one of the best players in the world, no doubt. I am delighted. I usually don't show what I feel, but I'm full inside. I don't get very emotional but there were moments out there from some of my players that filled me with emotion. I'm like that – I don't show it but I'm so full of feelings. That's my way of showing it – other people might be more expressive.

Joachim Löw, Germany coach
I'd like to congratulate Spain and their coach, because we have to recognise the high quality of their play. They played really well during the whole tournament, and today they were technically excellent and had more chances than us. They deserved to win. We're disappointed that we didn't win but I think we can be satisfied with the tournament as a whole. The team performed very well over the 45 days we've spent together, we had a lot of fun and enjoyed it, but we were very ambitious too. This defeat is going to be an incentive to work hard over the next two years in a number of areas and to improve, so that in qualifying we can reach our target of playing in the [FIFA] World Cup.

For some time, our focus has been on playing without the ball, ball possession, fast passes and direct contact. This is important in football, particularly at high speed and under pressure. We're aware that Spain are very good at that. Over the last two years we have shown that we're also fast and good at combinations. Looking at the last few tournaments we're right at the top in Europe and the team in recent years have learned a lot. They have developed well but we know we must not lose energy and strength – we must go on working and improving.