Bayern Munich manager Jupp Heynckes was beaming from ear to ear after his side's masterful performance against Barcelona, while Barca assistant coach Jordi Roura admitted the Spanish side had lost to the far superior team in the Champions League semifinal first leg.
The Allianz Arena witnessed an outstanding performance from their home side, as a brace from Thomas Muller and one each from Mario Gomez and Arjen Robben gave Bayern a massive 4-0 advantage going into the second leg at Camp Nou.
"We have been playing extraordinary football for the entire season now," Heynckes told reporters. "We have a fantastic team and the players get along great together, both on and off the pitch.
"Falling short of success in the past two years has only made them hungrier to win this year. The tactical awareness of this team is top notch as well, just like their willingness to run and fight for one another. Today's (Tuesday's) game was a perfect example of that."
While the second leg might now look academic, Heynckes is not going to take the final result for granted, as Bayern look to seal a spot in their second straight Champions League final.
"I am happy about the result, but I am not getting carried away," he added. "I know we still face 90 very difficult minutes in Spain. We will enjoy what happened tonight, but nothing more.
"It is important to stick to your tactical guidelines against Barcelona and that is what makes my team stand out this year.
"It is also important that we keep our tactical discipline at the back, because at the front we can always rely on our creativity."
Barcelona were at the wrong end of a couple of questionable refereeing decisions, with Gomez looking like he scored his goal from an offside position, while Jordi Alba was clearly fouled by Muller just prior to Robben's brilliant finish to make it 3-0.
"We have had bad luck with the refs (in) this (season's) Champions League," Roura said.
However, the Barcelona assistant admitted Bayern were by far the better side. "Bayern have to be congratulated," he said. "They were very strong and superior to us.
"They are a very physical team, tall and strong. We didn't play all that badly in the first half but then they scored quite early in the second from a set play following a corner -- and from there it was difficult. We left too many spaces and we suffered for a lack of physicality.
"Bayern played a great game while we were lacking that freshness to compete with them and that is something we have to look at. We did not see situations where we could have changed things after the break."
Roura refused to admit the tie was over, though, even if it might seem an impossible task. "It's a bad result and we are down," he added. "We know we're in a difficult position now, but as Barcelona we have to compete in the second leg and try to win. We will give it our all."
