Atletico Madrid striker Fernando Torres likened the second leg of their Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich to a "siege".
Diego Simeone's men were beaten 2-1 on the night but still advanced through to the final on away goals, in a fast-paced, intense match which saw the hosts dominate proceedings from the get go.
Bayern brought a relentless tempo to the field as they looked to blast through Atletico's rigid structure but Antoine Griezmann's second-half strike proved decisive as the Spaniards reached their second Champions League final in three seasons.
And afterwards Torres, who, like Bayern's Thomas Muller, had a spot-kick saved in the game, admitted it was a “match of much suffering” for his side but believes Atletico were able to show that their strong resilience means they are a match for any team.
"It has been a match of much suffering. We were overwhelmed," he said.
"We could not find a way to put pressure on them. It has been a siege, but sometimes you cannot play the game you want. But it is also nice to win having suffered.
"We have had a very complicated path [to the final], we have beaten the best in Europe. We want to be champions. This team is ready to play against anyone."
Referee Cuneyt Cakir awarded Atletico's penalty for Javi Martinez's tackle on Torres, despite contact taking place outside of the box.
The striker admitted he believed the correct decision would have been a free-kick, but was unconcerned as the incident ultimately had no bearing on the outcome.
"I thought it was outside the box on the pitch, but the play is quick and sometimes the referee sees where the player goes down," he added to BT Sport.
"I saw the replay and it was clearly outside, but in the end it didn't change the final result so we don't have to think about that."
Griezmann urged calm from his Atletico team-mates ahead of the final in Milan on May 28, with maintaining a challenge to win La Liga their next priority.
"We're delighted. It was difficult, a really hard game, we had a great opponent in front of us and we had to both defend and try to score," he said.
"They were better, but we scored an away goal, which was important. We need to keep grounded and first of all think of the Liga before the final."
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