Real Madrid coach Jupp Heynckes could hardly conceal his delight after his team overcame the odds to beat Juventus. Predictably he refused to be drawn on the speculation surrounding his future, preferring to concentrate on his side's astonishing achievement in winning the cup again after a 32-year wait.

"All talk about my future can wait till later," said the 53-year-old German, "right now I am delighted for my team, my players, the squad, the whole institution that is Real Madrid. We battled for every ball and in the end we were superior over 90 minutes. This is the greatest feeling in my career."

The man who will have the final say on Heynckes's future, Real president Lorenzo Sanz said: "This is the first European title for the new Real Madrid and finally we can breath a sigh of relief after waiting so long for our seventh victory. The time will come to decide on the future of the manager, but although we have had some bad moments this season, we made history today."

Real's goal-scorer Predrag Mijatovic dedicated the victory to his three year-old son who has leukaemia. "I thought of him the moment I scored," he said, "and right now I am the happiest man in the world. We have at last got the seventh European Cup and now we can go on and get the eighth, which is my favourite number, and the number I play with. It was my first goal in the competition this season and could not have come at a better time."

Raul, who had an excellent game in the Real midfield, added: "The whole of Spain should be proud that Real has won this Cup again after 32 years. I am delighted we have won it, but am also thinking of all the players who have tried to win it in the last 32 years without success."

Defender Fernando Hierro said: "This has been a long time in coming and although we did not start well, we proved we are a real team by fighting for every ball and winning in the end. The European Cup has been a huge burden for this club and now that burden has been lifted."

Juventus coach Marcello Lippi, who has now seen his team become the first to lose in two successive European Cup Finals in the competition's 43-year-history said: "We were very poor and did not rise to the occasion. Real Madrid won as they made chances and took them, we did not take ours. Maybe next year will be better for Juve, as we will not be the favourites."

French midfielder Zinedine Zidane, who has now lost three European finals in three seasons with Bordeaux in the UEFA Cup in 1996 and Juventus in the European Cup last season and this, could hardly conceal his gloom.

"We played very badly after the first 20 minutes," he said, "Juve was worse than last year when we lost to Borussia."

Alessandro Del Piero, who failed to find the form that brought him 10 goals in Europe this season, said: "We again missed something in the final. Hopefully this unfortunate finale will not affect the Italians in the team for the World Cup."

Hundreds of thousands of Madrid fans took to the streets of the Spanish capital late last night to celebrate their side's win. The fans converged on the Cibeles fountain, the traditional site of the team's celebrations. It had been drained as a precautionary measure. Spanish television station Antena 3 reported that Real fans in Barcelona had clashed with supporters of their arch rivals.

There was also celebrations in Seville as Real Betis won a place in next year's UEFA Cup competition thanks to the result.