Brocchi beaming after rare Lazio winner

A  delighted Cristian Brocchi put S.S. Lazio's first UEFA Europa League Group D victory down to half-time substitutions and a tactical switch before declaring "if we stay united we can win something this year". FC Zürich, meanwhile, took comfort in a decent first-half showing in their 1-0 reverse in Rome.

Cristian Brocchi, Lazio midfielder
The 4-3-3 formation we switched to in the second half and the introduction of Djibril Cissé and myself were the key tactical changes tonight, without taking anything away from Miroslav Klose or Senad Lulić, who were the key performers in our win against Cagliari on Sunday. We have a lot of good players in this side and in certain situations, one is better than another, but we are a united squad and if we stay united we can win something this year.

I am happy because it is always nice to score a goal, especially when you don't do so very often. It is great to score a first European goal in the Lazio shirt, because I really wanted it. I scored one for Milan in the Champions League but it wasn't given – which was bad luck for me. But I am delighted to have scored such an important goal, and I dedicate it to my children, because footballing career takes a lot away from them.

Djibril Cissé, Lazio striker
When the two substitutes – Cristian Brocchi and I – came on, we tried to bring something new to the game; we had fresh legs and we were involved in the goal so maybe the substitutions made the difference tonight. It was great to be involved in the goal because at the moment I'm struggling to score. I'm more of an assist man at the moment but it's good to have a different role in the team and it was nice to be involved in the goal.

We have two games left and we have to win our remaining games if we want to qualify. With the quality that we have in the squad I think we can do it.

Yassine Chikhaoui, Zürich midfielder
We played well in the first half. We found it a good deal harder in the second, but in general we put in a decent display against a strong Lazio side. It's a shame that we lost to a not particularly extraordinary goal. Fate has not been kind of late but that's football.

I'm not too sure what happened in the second half. Lazio pressed us a lot harder after the break, which is to be expected as they were playing in front of their own fans. We tried to get back into it after they scored but it wasn't to be.

Admir Mehmedi, Zürich forward
In the first half it was a good Zürich performance; we showed courage and created chances. It was a shame that we couldn't score in the second half, after Lazio took charge, but when they scored we were unable to respond.
Cissé and Brocchi caused us a few problems in the second half. Lazio have the strength in depth to be able to bring two quality players like those off the bench, but we have to be be positive and remember that we played well in the first half against a great Lazio side.