Gentile hails Azzurrini belief

Claudio Gentile, Italy coach
We never gave up and this finally paid dividends for us. That is the biggest quality of my team – the character, the spirit. It was not easy against Ukraine because they are a good side, as they had shown against the Netherlands. But we showed how much we wanted to win by controlling the game. I think we deserved it in the end because we created so many chances. We kept on pushing although we never lost our heads and maintained a balance. In the second half we were a bit tired – it is not very easy to play two matches in two days – but my players deserve credit for the way they kept on believing.

Olexiy Mykhaylychenko, Ukraine coach
It is difficult to play two games in three days. You really need to have two different lineups. That is why we didn't use all our first-choice players in the match. It was also very tough in that heat. But we did all we could out there tonight. Basically, we didn't concentrate enough in stoppage time and we have paid dearly for that. Conceding the late goal was a repeat of the first game against the Netherlands, but then we already had two goals in hand. But I am very grateful for these games, for the experience of this championship, and for the chance to show our football.

Marco Donadel, Italy captain
We felt we were going to win. We created so many chances that we were confident we would score, although we should probably have done so before. We are a team that needs to create five opportunities to score a goal – I think that's the biggest difference between this and the team that won this tournament in 2004. They were more clinical, for them two chances were enough, whereas we concede more in defence but also create more in attack.