EURO QUOTES

“Football is a romantic game and sometimes the underdogs come through. People did not give us a chance against Ukraine, but this is what Northern Ireland is about: proving people wrong.” – Gareth McAuley, who scored Northern Ireland’s first goal in their 2-0 win over Ukraine on Thursday. “If I had been watching from afar and not been with England and watching Wales play some other opponent, I would have felt very sorry for them. But they will have to excuse me not feeling sorry for them because I want to be pleased with ourselves.” – England coach Roy Hodgson after his team’s last-gasp win over Wales on Thursday. “Zlatan is such a great player that he could play in any league in the world. I see no reason why he wouldn’t make an impact in any league, in any country.” – Italy coach Antonio Conte (who is joining Chelsea after Euro 2016) on Sweden’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is leaving Paris Saint Germain. “It would not be a failure if we didn’t win the tournament, but we don’t want what happened in the last World Cup. Our aim is to play a dignified role and progress as far as possible.” – Spain and Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets. “As everyone saw, Iceland just kicked the ball forward. After they scored the goal, they parked the bus and played anti-football. They didn’t want to play. It’s very complicated when the opponents have all their players behind the ball. We knew it was going to happen and that if we scored the second goal, it would be easy, but it didn’t work out like that. We were better, we created more chances and we could have won. It wasn’t an attractive game because only one team wanted to play. But that’s football, we can’t always win.” – Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo after his team’s 1-1 draw with minnows Iceland on Tuesday. He is one of the best players in the world and I’m not just talking about my era. I’m talking about in the history of the game. Perhaps he has never won it (the Ballon d’Or) because it goes to players who score goals, not the ones who make them.” – Czech Republic goalkeeper Petr Cech on Andries Iniesta after his team’s Group D match against Spain. “I would prefer us to break the deadlock a little earlier.” – France coach Didier Deschamps after his team left it late to score in both their matches against Romania and Albania. “All games are close. For the teams who are here for the first time it’s the event of their lives. They do what they do best, defend and play on the counter.” – Germany coach Joachim Loew “Eighty percent of you and I occasionally scratch our balls sometimes. Therefore it’s all good.” – Germany’s Lukas Podolski on the video of coach Joachim Loew doing the rounds on social media and TV networks. “If I was playing with anybody who was constantly talking about wanting to leave, be it at Nottingham Forest, Rockmount, Cobh (Ramblers), I would kick them in training.” – Republic of Ireland assistant coach Roy Keane on the manner in which Eden Hazard has courted a move away from Chelsea. – Reuters & Independent