Opening wins please Group B coaches

Spain and Portugal enjoyed winning starts to this year's UEFA European Under-19 Championship, posting victories agaist Croatia and Italy respectively in a day of high drama in Group B. La Roja coach Luis Milla admitted he was proud to see his side react to going behind to triumph 2-1, while his counterpart Ivica Grnja was left frustrated at being denied what would have been a famous scalp. Meanwhile, Portugal's Ilídio Vale and Massimo Piscedda of Italy agreed the Iberian side deserved their 2-0 triumph.

CROATIA 1-2 SPAIN
Luis Milla, Spain coach
[Croatia] qualified for this tournament with some impressive figures and they didn't concede many goals. We realised as the first half was progressing we'd have our work cut out. They closed down well, blocked off the spaces and didn't allow us to progress. In the second half we were a little more dynamic. What makes me happy is that we responded well [to going behind]. After all, at half-time the scoreline wasn't a fair reflection. After the break we played with more speed and were a little more precise with our passing. I told them at the break to be patient and in the end we found that bit of luck we needed in front of goal.

Ivica Grnja, Croatia coach
I'm still feeling a lot of emotion after that defeat. We shouldn't have lost the game; we should have kept our cool after taking the lead. The players had one instruction at half-time which was to keep their heads for the first 15 minutes of the second period; unfortunately they didn't do that. We weren't 100% concentrated and we made two terrible mistakes which caused us to concede two goals. After we conceded a second we brought in some attacking players but as everyone knows it's difficult to play against Spain if they are leading. In the end I would like to congratulate our opponents; they were the better team.

ITALY 0-2 PORTUGAL
Ilídio Vale, Portugal coach
We knew our rivals would try to create many difficulties for us but I think we were the superior team throughout. We kept our positions well on the pitch and for that reason we were the deserved winners. The problems they gave us were shots from distance. We demonstrated that we were stronger than them. We stamped our authority on the game by starting quicker and we remained balanced throughout, we kept to our identity and were pragmatic at all times.

Massimo Piscedda, Italy coach
Portugal deserved their victory, they pushed for it more than us. We started well in the first 20 minutes, we had good chances in that period but didn't manage to take them and unfortunately it went wrong for us after that. Portugal kept the ball well and made it difficult for us, but both goals were defensive errors on our part: it was naivety. I'm disappointed that one of my players got sent off and I'm going to punish him because his behaviour was totally unacceptable. A few of my players were a bit off the pace today, and because of that the defeat was pretty much inevitable.