Totti: final page is not yet written

Jul 5, 2006, 1:53 GMT

Dortmund - Italy have 'written a wonderful story' in beating Germany 2-0 in the World Cup semi-final, but 'the final page is still to be written', midfielder Francesco Totti said after Tuesday's victory.

'When Fabio Grosso scored the first goal I felt a wonderful sensation. I can't find words to describe it,' the Roma star added, referring to Grosso's last-gasp goal late in overtime that gave Italy the lead, avoiding a penalty shoot out. Alessandro Del Piero sealed the victory moments later.

Totti said Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi was in the dressing room immediately after the match to congratulate the players on the 2-0 extra-time victory 'but it was so loud I couldn't hear what he was saying'.

Goal-scorer Grosso said he was grateful for the goal in extra- time.

'I am very glad because the ball went just where it had to. We didn't want a penalty shoot-out,' he said.

'Now we want to win the cup,' striker Luca Toni added. 'We mustn't lose our concentration.'

The Fiorentina striker said the players felt great tension before the game in view of legal proceedings in Italy against leading Serie A clubs for alleged match-fixing.

'We hope our clubs will be cleared,' he said.

German defender Philipp Lahm expressed the German's disappointment at the 2-0 overtime loss.

'We had great aims here and of course we are very disappointed. I think we played well but we couldn't manage to score,' he said. 'The game was played at a high tactical level and neither team allowed many goal chances, but the few there were the Italians took better.'

German striker Lukas Podolski said the loss was 'disappointing and hard to believe but that's football. We were only two minutes away from a penalty shoot-out.'