Germany overjoyed by shoot-out success

Anouschka Bernhard, Germany coach
It was a very close game. Both teams are more or less at the same level. I'd say France have the better players but I think we played better as a team and that made the difference. In a game like today's, you would normally expect the team that scores first to win, but we came back as a team – we fought for one another.

At the end it looked like we were the team fitter, too. France were looking flat and we were looking stronger. It was hot out there, but both teams had to deal with that equally. This fitness helps us and it's not the first time we have scored in the final 20 minutes of games and finished games strongly.

We have a great record in this competition, a huge tradition, and that puts pressure on us so we were are really happy to win the title. When I started working with the team a year ago I didn't imagine we would be winners, but the team is so great, they work really hard together and now it's just amazing to have won.

Pauline Bremer, Germany forward
The feeling of being European champions is indescribable. I still need a bit of time for it to all sink in. For now, I am just really happy. It was nice to score but it was a collective effort by the whole team that helped us win.

Sara Däbritz, Germany forward
When I missed our first penalty in the shoot-out I thought 'Oh no!' but then I remembered there are four others after me who will take penalties and they will surely score. We have a great goalkeeper so I depended on her to save some.

We don't really practise penalties, only now and then, but we had a good feeling about them because we had fought back during the match which helped us psychologically. It was a great equaliser, set up from Vivien [Beil]'s free-kick. We have different free-kick routines and it is nice to see that what we do in training helps us in matches.

Merle Frohms, Germany goalkeeper
I am delighted that we won such a close game. It is a super experience to become European champions. I was happy to be able to fight for the team during the penalty shoot-out – it's a super feeling.

It was a setback to concede the first goal but I knew we still had enough time to score and we are a team that doesn't give up. I was really sure we could get an equaliser.