(Reuters) – The reaction to the 2024 European Championship draw, which took place at Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg on Saturday, has been as follows.
JULIAN NAGELSMANN, GERMANY MANAGER
“It’s not a group of death, but it is a very strong group and we are looking forward to it.”
“Now we know who we have to play and have a very good opening match against Scotland with emotional crowds in a positive way both from the Germans and the Scottish fans. I know several Swiss and Portuguese players and have worked with them in the past.”
DIDIER DESCHAMPS, FRANCE MANAGER
“It’s going to be difficult. The Pot 3 team we’ll be facing is the Netherlands… We won both our games against them (in the qualifiers) but it makes our group harder. We also faced Austria during the latest Nations League campaign and it was far from easy. We don’t know yet our last opponent. But it’s a dense and difficult group.”
RONALD KOEMAN, NETHERLANDS MANAGER
“It’s difficult for everybody. I did not prefer France, maybe France did not prefer Holland because we play often and it’s nice to have other opponents. But anyway we need to accept it. Our objective is to win the tournament.”
STEVE CLARKE, SCOTLAND MANAGER
“It was always going to be exciting. (On Hungary and Switzerland) Two good teams it’s a good group, evenly balanced. It will be competitive. We’ve got a really good idea where we will be based and how we will prepare. (On the hosts) They will have to be ready for a lot of Scotsmen to come.”
LUIS DE LA FUENTE, SPAIN MANAGER
“If it’s not the toughest group, it’s one of the toughest. I’m not going to say it’s a cliché when we see that all the teams are complicated, but obviously it’s a group that will require us to perform to the best of our ability and always show our very best.”
LUCIANO SPALLETTI, ITALY MANAGER
“Yes, it could have been better. Being in the fourth pot makes you realize that you have teams ahead of you but nothing should distract us from the fact that we are Italy. It’s difficult to make predictions.
“A tough group, Albania demonstrated that they know how to stay on the pitch. Croatia is strong and experienced. Spain? Anyone who loves this sport must play it, the taste of challenge and comparison. If you don’t play you lose the pleasure of football.”
GARETH SOUTHGATE, ENGLAND MANAGER
“You know the objective is to get out of the group. You can’t tell but you look at Serbia with a centre-forward like Mitrovic and you can’t assume too much. Slovenia was one of the first games I had. Joe Hart made a save that meant I can still be here. We’re now ready to work out the timing of the arriving in Germany, and start to nail down where we stay. We’re hugely excited to be part of the tournament. We know the expectations, we are getting used to these big games. We hope to give our supporters some brilliant nights.”
THOMAS FRANK, BRENTFORD MANAGER
“Going into the Euros there’ll be two teams I will support – England and Denmark. I need to say I’m slightly biased towards Denmark, if that’s OK, so I hope they will win. England of course are the favourites….I think they were very unlucky not to win the Euros three years ago….if not Denmark I hope they (England) will do it.”
MARCO ROSSI, HUNGARY MANAGER
“The draw could have been easier and harder, but there are no easy groups or easy matches at the European Championship. The Germans are definitely the strongest in the group, the Scots are physically strong and Switzerland are an outstanding playing force. All three games will be difficult, every team has a similar chance of qualifying.”
(Compiled by Tommy Lund in Gdansk; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Toby Davis)
