Olympique Lyonnais coach Gerard Houllier hailed his players’ performance during their 4-0 victory over Dutch outfit PSV Eindhoven that led to their qualification to the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.

“I first want to congratulate my players. They have won and they played magnificant football. The first goal was perfect, and after that I knew we would do it. I knew then they would play without pressure,” Houllier was quoted as saying by the official UEFA website on Wednesday.

Houllier insisted that his players put on a top-notch performance in front of Eindhoven and said that they received a morale boost after the Dutch side’s skipper, Phillip Cocu, received his marching orders.

“To have a good game means both result and style. I think my players had both those things tonight. We were boosted when Cocu was sent off, but I think his tackle deserved such a card,” Houllier added.

Asked about the impact of losing Juninho for their coming quarter-final first-leg, Houllier said: “To play another match without Juninho Pernambucano will be hard but a big team must be able to play without their stars.”

On the other hand, PSV Eindhoven caretaker Guus Hiddink expressed his anger at exiting the Champions League from the round of 16 and blasted both the players’ failure to finish a host of scoring chances and the referee’s decision to send off Juninho.

“To go out of the competition is hard, but I think we deserved to go out - Lyon were better tonight. Two minutes after Lyon's first goal, we had the opportunity to score and we failed. We failed to be there at the right moment.

“The second yellow card for Cocu was justified, but not the first. After that, it was hard for us. During the second half we tried to play as well as possible knowing we had to come back. Lyon deserve a bigger European reputation and they deserve to go far in the Champions League,” Hiddnik added.