Eagles' daring secures Amsterdam passage

On another night of high drama at the Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, the synergy between team and crowd was again notable as SL Benfica reached their first UEFA Europa League final. Scorer of the opening goal against Fenerbahçe SK, Nicolás Gaitán spoke of the great style with which his side are playing ahead of the Amsterdam final, while team-mate Enzo Peréz relayed the squad's satisfaction in having "brought happiness to the fans".

Nicolás Gaitán, Benfica midfielder
The team knew what they wanted from the very first minute and this was a really great game. We knocked out a good team who tried to do their thing, but Benfica are very strong. My goal? It was a lovely move to set it up and a great way to finish it. Now it's a final – it's one game and we're going to move on to trying to achieve something else. We're going to enjoy it. We're going to try and win it, of course.

The collision with Gökhan Gonül [that led to the Fenerbahçe man being carried off on a stretcher]? It wasn't intentional, I hope he gets better quickly.

Enzo Peréz, Benfica midfielder
I think we played a great match. We came out really strongly in the first half. We knew we had a chance with our people behind us. Fenerbahçe's penalty didn't change things too much because our mentality was always to get after our opponents. That was our attitude until the 90th minute and that's how we got the result we did.

It's a wonderful situation to be in – and great to have brought happiness to our fans – but we haven't won anything yet. It's 50-50. There are no favourites in a final. The two teams there deserve it. We need to rest and be ready for a big Europa League final.