Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho bemoaned the fact that his side missed so many chances early in the game, while Borussia Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp revealed his players were already planning a celebration for the ages after advancing to the final of the Champions League.
Real Madrid fell a goal short of pulling off a remarkable comeback, after Karim Benzema and Sergio Ramos had given the home side a real opportunity by scoring in the final ten minutes. Dortmund, though, saw the game through, losing 2-0 in the second leg at the Bernabeu, but advancing 4-3 on aggregate after their dominant 4-1 win in the first leg.
However, both sides were guilty of missing several opportunities, with Real in particular throwing away easy chances in the first 15 minutes of the game.
"We were close," Mourinho told reporters. "If we had scored earlier, we would have had more opportunities, but football is about scoring goals. The Bernabeu was fantastic, they believed until the end, but we didn't make it.
"In football you win or you lose, and we could have won this tie. They had a couple of big chances but that was as a consequence of how we were playing in the last part of the match, where we risked absolutely everything.
"Today we were a team, with character and desire, and we could have done it. I don't forget the first match, there we were very, very bad and we have been punished for that, not for tonight (Tuesday)."
Klopp joked about his side always making it difficult for themselves and exciting for the fans, after the German side themselves missed several clear-cut chances in the early part of the second half, with first leg's four-goal man Robert Lewandowski the culprit on quite a few occasions.
"It was a bit dramatic in the end, despite the fact we had a lot of counterattacks that led to opportunities to take the lead," Klopp said.
"We knew that Madrid would take an aggressive approach and we managed to calm things down after 20-25 minutes, but we definitely have ourselves to blame for allowing Madrid back into the game as we missed a couple of sitters.
"Dortmund apparently are an all-inclusive club, so we always make things exciting, one way or another."
Klopp, though, said his side were deserved winners of the tie. "We knew that a team like us required a certain amount of luck to reach the final," he added. "That was the case against Malaga and also today (Tuesday).
"It wouldn't have been necessary if we had used one of our chances though. It's an extraordinary achievement nonetheless."
The Dortmund manager admitted he would not stand in the way of his players celebrating their entry into the final, with on-loan Real Madrid midfielder Nuri Sahin set to be the party guide.
"We play Bayern at the weekend, but we also have a day's more rest than them, so I won't deny the team that chance to go out and celebrate," he said. "Nuri apparently knows his way around Madrid, or so I've heard. I'll stay in the hotel and have a few beers there.
"The players deserve to have a little time off after a game like this. Perhaps it won't be ideal in terms of the Bayern game at the weekend, as they might give us a bit of a thumping, but that would be the most pleasant defeat against Bayern that we could ever experience.
"I'll definitely not deny the players' celebrations -- what kind of muppet would I be if I did?"
