Luković savours Serbia's greatest day

Andrija Luković, Serbia midfielder
We were a bit scared in the first 20 minutes because of the atmosphere but we managed to find our rhythm after that. We scored the goal at the right time, defended well and deservedly won.

When I scored, I thought how it was the 57th minute and we had more than half an hour to defend that lead – and against France. But I opened the championship with a goal at this stadium and I ended it with a goal at this stadium and that makes me happy. This is the best day of my life.

We knew France had great strikers and great defenders so we tried to close them down. We tried to play on their weaknesses. The mistake from their central defender decided the match and led to us becoming European champions.

The hardest part was definitely stopping their attackers, and our defenders did this well. Our whole defence played great during these five matches. We proved that our good results in qualifying were not lucky coincidences at all but the result of work and quality.

This tournament has been special. We haven't lost a match. We had two draws against France and Portugal [in the semi-final]. When you finish first in a group that has Turkey, France and Georgia – who had knocked out England – I don't see a reason why we shouldn't be European champions.

We will celebrate properly tomorrow. We still haven't come to terms with what we have achieved and it is only when we return to Serbia that we will be able to comprehend what we have done.

Aleksandar Mitrović, Serbia forward
I really don't know what to say. We achieved a historic success for Serbia and I hope the people at home are proud of us. It still hasn't sunk in what we have done here, but I hope that people will be waiting for us when we get back. I dedicate this win to my family and my late uncle.

I was aware that people looked at me as a kind of a leader but I didn't burden myself with that. I tried to give my best for the team, which is the most important thing. I always say that things can get better. I scored one goal and had two assists which is not bad, but the focus was the team. For me, the most important thing is that I managed to do what the coach asked of me.

It seemed we came into this match with a bit of fear, but as soon as we lost that, we started playing better. I think we wanted to win more.

We didn't have an easy group but we played all our matches extremely well. We played every match to the limit of our abilities and we fought for each other. That was decisive.

Nikola Antić, Serbia defender
The feelings are indescribable. This is the biggest achievement for Serbian football in the last 20 years. I am very happy. Congratulations to all my team-mates, it was a really good performance.

We watched all France's matches and analysed them with our staff. We knew all their strengths and weaknesses, as they probably did ours. We knew each other very well and what decided today was that we had maybe a bit more will to win. The toughest thing was that France are really similar to us. They sat back and waited for a chance to play on the counter. We had more patience and that brought us the triumph.

I said three weeks ago that teamwork and togetherness would be our strongest quality and we fulfilled this prediction on and off the pitch. All 18 players along with the staff managed to win this trophy, to lift the cup and earn the medals.

This means a lot to me. This is the biggest achievement of my career and I hope to have more of them. I see this as a big step in my career and I hope it will help me fulfil my dream of one day playing in the Champions League final.