Luis Aragones: “Before the final Euro-2008, I was telling players jokes”

Former Spain coach Luis Aragones, led his team to victory at Euro-2008, on the eve of the final of UEFA Euro-2012 shared memories of four years ago. 

-How do you prepare players for the final? 

-I had a special approach, not one of which usually are waiting for players. I started telling them jokes about various footballers, but the really important things said so that they are not nervous and remained calm. 

We already knew what scenario we will act on the field. We understood that we need to control the ball in defence and attack. If we have the ball, the game will be ours. 

We have tried to take the pressure off before the final with a team. We were telling jokes, talked about the weaknesses of the opponent rather than to glorify him. That was our approach. 

-Your memories of the final? 

-He started for us terribly. The Germans had two dangerous attack and created us many difficulties. We have acted in defence, but they were attacking more time than we thought. 

We have to say that we need to move the game from their gate and put pressure on someone else's half of the field. Then we would have more possession, we had opportunities to score. 

However, at the beginning of the match, this has not happened. Germany reached the final with a triumphant mood. It was only at 30 minutes past the hour, the Germans realized that victory against Spain would be tough,“ - said Aragones, in an interview with the official site of UEFA.