De Haan enjoys guard of honour

The Netherlands coach Foppe de Haan paid tribute to Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Kenneth Vermeer after the duo played integral roles in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship final defeat of Ukraine. Huntelaar scored twice, one a penalty, and Nicky Hofs the other in added time, but goalkeeper Vermeer "showed why he is the No1" with an exceptional performance as Ukraine chased the game in the second half. uefa.com rounds up the reaction from Porto.

Foppe de Haan, Netherlands coach
When we played them in the opening match, it was a running game which didn't suit us. Especially in the first half tonight, it was a passing game and that's what we're good at. When we're able to pass the ball to the forwards from ten to 15 metres we are very dangerous. We had one or two problems with their set-pieces and in [Artem] Milevskiy they have a very good striker who's good on the ball, aggressive and has great awareness. So did we in Klaas. His first goal was magnificent - we'd told him before to drop to the left behind the central defenders with crosses from the right.

We were not as relaxed when they came at us in the second half and we played too many long balls. This is the first time a Dutch youth team has won a prize like this. In the winter we have a thing where we ice-skate 220 kilometres from city to city and I did it when I was 20 and 54; today I am as proud as I was when I completed them. Our goalkeeper showed today why he is our No1. He is very fast to the ball, is comfortable on it and is a good kicker. He's a real talent for the future. Everyone did their job and that's the important thing.

Olexiy Mykhaylychenko, Ukraine coach
It's a great pity that we lost by such a score in the biggest game of the tournament. The Netherlands played with more skill and at the same time capitalised on our mistakes. Unfortunately we didn't do the same. We created enough chances to win several matches, never mind one. I would like to thank my players because they never gave up until the final seconds, even after a player was sent off, and demonstrated a lot of character. I think the football gods decided that it wasn't to be Ukraine's day. This is the first time Ukraine have qualified for a major tournament like this and the players and I have learned a lot from it; it's been an important experience. We have some players going to the [FIFA] World Cup now and playing in this tournament with the emotions and experience it brings can only make them better players.