Valencia's Alves remains grounded despite PSV win

Valencia CF goalkeeper Diego Alves remained grounded after the Spanish side negotiated "a very difficult night" to draw 1-1 at PSV Eindhoven and reach the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals with a 5-3 aggregate win. Alves pulled off a number of saves to keep the Eredivisie club at bay and warned his team-mates they "will have to work very hard" to proceed to the last four regardless of who they get in tomorrow's draw. Meanwhile, midfielder Kevin Strootman was left in awe of Valencia's superior quality and emphasised that PSV must take their "good attitude" into the remainder of their domestic season.

Diego Alves, Valencia goalkeeper
We worked really well defensively and in attack we were tremendous. PSV are a very good side and with those fans behind them they are tough opponents. During the game they got stronger and stronger which made it a very difficult night and I'm happy to have qualified. When your opponents are on the attack you prepare yourself for the idea that the cross might come in and when the header does arrive you simply throw yourself at the ball. I managed a good save and it helped the team that we went in at the break without conceding.

Jonas, Valencia forward
It was a difficult game but we held on until the end to get the result we needed. It feels good to be in the quarter-finals. We owe Diego Alves for his great save [from Strootman]. It will be interesting to see who we draw now, but whoever it is, all our efforts will be towards producing two good performances in the quarter-finals.

Kevin Strootman, PSV midfielder
I saw the ball going towards the corner of the goal and thought I had scored. I had already started thinking that it was going to be 2-1. We played well but we are out of Europe. The positives were how we worked for each other and our good attitude from the start. We have to keep doing that and focus on the league and cup. Valencia have so many good players, they are third in Spain and in the away game they didn't even put out their first team. They are all so comfortable on the ball and they have a lot of quality. Valencia have a great team and unfortunately we had to play against them.

Przemysław Tytoń, PSV goalkeeper
We have changed coach [with Phillip Cocu replacing Fred Rutten] and we wanted to show the supporters that they deserve to watch good, entertaining football. We did our best and it is a shame we didn't win the game. At first [when Valencia's Jordi Alba tried a chip] I didn't think it was possible to save it but instinct takes over. I saved it but it was nothing special, the other guys did a better job than me tonight. Valencia are a very strong team. In the first leg they played very well first half and that brought them here in a strong position. They defended in the first half and in the second we had more chances but the fact remains we drew the game.