Mykhaylychenko joy at 'cup win'

For coach Olexiy Mykhaylychenko, there is no great secret to Ukraine's success in winning UEFA European Under-21 Championship Group B – it is simply the result of good planning and good performances on the day. However, with the Ukrainians' 2-1 victory in Agueda sending Denmark home after just three matches, coach Flemming Serritslev was left to rue a display lacking only a scoring touch.

Olexiy Mykhaylychenko, Ukraine coach
I am full of pride tonight. It was basically a cup match to decide the semi-finalist and it was really tough for us. Both teams played very well and deserved to go through. But I was delighted with our defending, not just at the back but all over the pitch. We were possibly a bit quicker than the Danes and although we didn't have many goalscoring chances, our ratio of opportunities to goals scored is very high. I am thrilled for my players because they gave everything to reach the semi-finals. Our success is not a surprise for me. The journalists are the ones that are surprised. We were well prepared and are working hard on causing further upsets for you. It has been a difficult group to plan for, and our strategy has simply been to try to win every game. It is that simple. We would all like to thank the supporters – this is a victory for the fans as much as for us. It is great when you play abroad and you see your supporters there, right behind you. That kind of backing is very important and it is why home teams do well generally. They give us trust and they give us hope during every match.

Flemming Serritslev, Denmark coach
The players and I are hugely disappointed. We could have won. Even though we played some brilliant football and created lots of chances, we were not quite sharp enough either up front or at the back. Looking back over the tournament, the team has played well and there are lads here who can look forward to breaking into the senior international side in the short term. The future looks bright for Danish football. But today we did everything except score, and if you don't score it is not because you are unlucky, but because you are not clever enough.