Fighting spirit essential for Atlético's Falcao

Though his side go into next week's UEFA Europa League semi-final second leg holding a 4-2 advantage, Club Atlético de Madrid forward Falcao – scorer of two goals on Thursday – said they must show the "same intensity" at Valencia CF next week to reach the final. Ricardo Costa, meanwhile, believes everything is still to play for after his added-time header revived Unai Emery's team.

Falcao, Atlético forward
It was a very interesting game between two teams who like to come out and play. What concerned us tonight was getting the victory and with it a good advantage to take into the second leg. Our fans really got behind us and helped us play a great game. We have to play with the same intensity at Mestalla and show a similar attitude by pressing hard and moving the ball around. The tie is still very open. On a personal level, things are again working out for me in this competition. I hope to score again in Valencia.

Miranda, Atlético defender
We showed a real will to win and demonstrated how we have progressed under coach Diego Simeone. I was delighted to score in this victory. We ran and fought a lot, which is what our supporters demand from us. The team are in great spirits right now.

We were happy with the home result. It could have been much better of course but we are satisfied with 4-2. Going into the second leg we have a good advantage and we will be looking for more goals. I think it will be a very open match in Valencia. We will play with the mentality required to reach the final – it's where we want to be, so it's important we try to win the second leg too.

Roberto Soldado, Valencia forward
Our second goal leaves us with a small hope of making a comeback. We will have to change everything for next week's return. We'll have to do the exact opposite of what we did tonight. Atlético were superior in every department. They were very efficient and earned a good result. We are a big club with great players and we are capable of turning this around. We have to trust in ourselves and our ability to do it.

Ricardo Costa, Valencia defender
The score allows us to keep dreaming about the final, as we know we can deliver a performance at Mestalla and achieve a 2-0 win there. In the opening 45 minutes Atlético were very good – they really got into the game and managed to score. After the break we conceded twice in quick succession and that's not something you can afford do in the semi-final of a UEFA competition. They killed the game by going 3-1 up.