Spain coach Luis Aragones has underlined the improvement his team achieved in last two years for Sunday evening’s title winning run against Germany here at the Euro 2008 final.
The 69-year-old praised the style his players presented at the tournament, especially the way they went through the group stage.
“We have been composed in the group, which’s very difficult to stand out. We’ve managed to got here and been in the brilliant way,” said Aragones. “I’m satisfied with everything. The players played well and the technique’s good for Spain.”
He compared the Euro 2008 campaign to that of two years ago in the 2006 World Cup, where the Spanish team suffered a quarterfinal exit after losing to France.
“Our football was very good then, but the players there were not as mature as now they did,” he said. “It’s basic to know how to play well with a control of the ball and we improved a lot on that in the following one and a half years.”
The old man, who turns 70 years old next month, hailed the way his team had played.
“We all love football. And not just us, all the people are into scoring goals. When people look at us, they think we are the model for football,” commented Aragones.
“I remembered that in the beginning I said if we made out of the group we could be the champions. Some might think I were just encouraging the players, but that’s what I do think about,” he added.
He’s shown even more confidence later on, while talking about the process of Spain’s 1-0 victory over Germany in the final.
“During the first ten minutes today, I were not that sure since we played quite nervous and Germany were the better team then,” he said. “But in the following 20 minutes, I had thought that we could win the match and lift the trophy, because we did well with the ball.”
The Spaniard, who’s linked to Fenerbahce, declined to comment on his move to the Turkey club as a question raised at the press conference was blocked at the first moment.
“Please question referring to the tournament,” said a spokesman of the organizers UEFA. He further said: “You could not force Mr. Aragones to answer a question when he did not want to.”
Fenerbahce announced after Spain made the semifinals with a penalty shootout victory over reigning World Cup champions Italy that they have signed a two-year contract with Aragones, who denied any concern of that ahead of Thursday’s semi clash which his team won a impressive 3-0 over Guus Hiddink’s Russian side.