Vicente del Bosque, Spain coach
We are all happy as our objective was to win the game and we achieved that. It wasn’t easy as Ireland were very compact at the back. The most important thing from my point of view is that we showed security on the ball and played from one side of the pitch to the other. We had 26 shots on goal; that’s an important statistic. I was impressed by our central defenders who handled their aerial threat very well. From there we were quite comfortable in our build-up play. We created danger despite our opponents trying to deprive us of space.
I thought we played a complete game. We had the majority of possession tonight
and we felt that Fernando [Torres] was going to be the type of player who could take advantage of that. He is a player who can expose spaces with penetrating pace. We have a squad of 23 players and all of them are capable of playing. We put Fernando in today in order for him to do exactly what he did.
I would also like to mention Ireland here as their players and supporters are an example. There is no question of us being interested in a draw against Croatia in our last game. We said before tonight that we had two games left and that we wanted to win both. That hasn’t changed. In a tournament like this you can never let your guard down.
Giovanni Trapattoni, Ireland coach
Just as we did in the game against Croatia, we conceded a very early goal which immediately throws the pre-match plan out of the window. We knew we were facing a very difficult task but we wanted to bolster our midfield while also looking to support Robbie Keane up front. Their opening goal then makes doing that very difficult as it means you will cede more space to a team that is exceptionally gifted technically. The mistakes we made came as a blow. We don’t see these types of errors in training
, we don’t see the tension.
But it happened against Croatia and it has happened again here. Spain demonstrated a quality tonight that we already knew they had. They hardly use up any energy as they involve every player, they are like an orchestra. We came to this tournament feeling confident but I am left with the disappointment of the Irish players. Our fans deserve a lot of respect. They applauded and cheered us even when we were behind. I am terribly sad for them. In the next game against Italy we have to make sure we try to leave with our heads held high.
