Luis Aragones Quotes

"This game is the most important for me as the coach of Spain. In fact probably ever,"

"I have only been the coach for a year, however, and I expect to turn this history around both in the playoffs and then at the finals in Germany."

"De la Pena is a quality player and one of the most effective providers of scoring passes in Spain,"

"I am a citizen of the world. Some of my best friends are black, including those I had from childhood. The fact that I made a joke in order to motivate a player has nothing to do with being racist. I'm not a racist."

"There was too much anxiety, hastiness and disorganization. There were occasions when we had four forwards all in a line and that's no good. On the left wing we didn't overlap enough."

"For their performances in some recent games and almost 65 minutes on Wednesday, the side deserve some credit. They deserve a vote of confidence."

"They will be good for Torres and for all of us, people can't now say that we lack goals."

"What's essential is to win. And if it's by two goals, that's better than one. And if it's by three, even better. I think we're superior in terms of our technical ability and we have to use this to make sure of victory. I think we can win both here and there. I'm sure we'll be in Germany."

"On paper they are inferior to us so our aim is to score as many goals as possible so that we don't lose out to our rivals on goal difference."

"I'm happy for my players, for my country and for myself. Spain has always qualified for the last 30 years, so there's not a lot to celebrate. But I'm content, we've done the job."

"Ivory Coast is a good team and has an advantage because it's just played the African Cup final. Although Spain hasn't played for a while, I hope the players can put on a good display."

"In football terms we are better than our group rivals, but some of them are able to beat us because they know how to compete,"

"I don't think this result will influence what happens on Wednesday, but I am not going to deny that the squad will have lost a little self-belief."

"Getting to the finals is every Spanish person's dream. We will have the hopes and dreams of millions in our hands when we play on Saturday."

"Our opponents took advantage of our anxiety. They had one attack in the first half, scored and then made good use of the situation."