New boy Diego takes delight in Atlético triumph

After a lacklustre opening to their Liga campaign, Club Atlético de Madrid strode confidently onto the UEFA Europa League stage, producing a stylish 2-0 triumph over Celtic FC with Falcao and Diego on target. Having quickly won the favour of the Vicente Calderón crowd, loan signing Diego admitted his night could not have gone better while midfielder Gabi claimed the sky was the limit for Los Rojiblancos. Celtic's Ki Sung-Yong, meanwhile, said that qualification was still his team's goal.

Diego, Atlético de Madrid midfielder
It was a very special night for me. It's been around four months since I last played in a game like this on the pitch for 80 minutes, giving an assist and also scoring to help my team win three points, it was marvellous. I think we have a lot more confidence now than we did before. We were playing at home against a great side and we performed well. It was a difficult encounter but the difference tonight compared to previous games was that we created goalscoring chances. I think winning the first game in the group stage is quite important; it means we've started on the right path. Personally I'd like to thank my team-mates and the supporters. Our objective now is to get through to the next round. We know it won't be easy but I'm confident we can do it.

Diego Godín, Atlético de Madrid defender
I am more than satisfied with how we played and with winning the three points which is obviously the important thing. Our supporters were right behind us all the way as always they were spectacular. We had been doing OK up until this match but results hadn't been going our way. We weren't scoring goals. This can create problems because as everybody knows winning is what matters in football. Thankfully we did just that tonight while keeping a clean sheet. Diego, Falcao and Arda Turan are fantastic players who are full of quality and they have just demonstrated their importance to this side. I am convinced they will bring us a lot of joy this term.

Gabi, Atlético de Madrid midfielder
What a great start for us. To be honest I was really keen to start playing in this tournament. The new signings were great, they have adapted very well. They offered many extra dimensions to the side and let's hope they can continue. We don't have to put limits on what this team can achieve this term but we will go a game at a time and see where that gets us.  

Ki Sung-Yong, Celtic midfielder
It's always hard when you are playing away from home. We gave away an easy goal in the first half. Despite that, we did well after the break. We generally played well but we have to work on little things in our game and we need to stop giving cheap goals away. Atlético are a good side. I like Spanish football, here the teams can play and pass the ball well. They seem to enjoy playing. They were a better team than us tonight which was reflected on the scoreboard. Hopefully we can qualify from the group. The games are not going to be easy and we must play against more very strong teams. We are going to try our best. I am especially looking forward to playing at Celtic Park against Udinese [on 29 September].