EURO 2012/ ITALY, Prandelli: "I wasn't surprised by tonight"

© foto di Daniele Buffa/Image Sport

Italy coach Cesare Prandelli was delighted after his side won the "lottery" of penalties against England, though admitted he was never unduly concerned during the 4-2 shoot-out victory. 

"I wasn't surprised by tonight. I knew we could control the game. My worry was that we were allowing England too much space on the break – we could have been a bit cleverer in our build-up play. We tried to play football. We tried to draw England out; we tried to hit them quickly. I think if we'd scored in the 90 minutes it would have been an even better game.

Penalties are a lottery but I thought we deserved victory in the end. When [Riccardo] Montolivo missed his penalty I was sad as he was one of the best players tonight. I was watching with my arm around my son and I told him he was lucky he didn't have to buy a ticket. When Andrea Pirlo stepped up I was very calm – he's a star and knew what he needed to do; and he did it.

Around 80% of penalty shoot-outs go down to luck. Some players are used to this kind of pressure, some are just calm in these situations – but mainly it's down to good fortune.

President Napolitano called us to congratulate us and that was special. We are delighted but we have to get ready for Germany now. They have had two more days' rest. If we have the same approach, the same desire, I think we can compete.

Germany and Spain are favourites here. We'll need everyone fit and fresh; we're going to go for it. They're always attacking games against Germany. Germany are a great side – they made changes against Greece and it made no difference. The game here hasn't long ended and we want to get our players fit – we just want to go home and get to bed to be honest".