When Luis Aragonés accepted a trophy to mark his achievement in alleviating Spain's 44-year itch for the UEFA European Championship trophy it brought a rare moment of personal pleasure and reflection – but a team ethic is never too far away.

National pride
Aragonés is old school, and proud of it. A player when Spain were crowned continental kings in 1964, he masterminded his nation's slick march to UEFA EURO 2008™ glory in June; a source of enormous satisfaction but showing it was not on the agenda. He praised the players, evoked national pride around Spain and loved the fact that the triumph in Vienna provided an exceptionally unified level of joy throughout an often divided footballing nation. Yet he singularly failed to talk about what he, personally, had done so well. Now 70 and coach of Fenerbahçe SK he let his guard down with uefa.com, admitting that the process, almost as much as the style of the triumph, gave him greatest satisfaction.

Psychological triumph
"I am proud of the way we went about winning," said Aragonés, "because I knew there was a huge amount of psychological work to get through if we were to win. Forty four years is a long time without knowing what it's like to win something and I had to convince the players that this was a strong team. I admit that I sometimes exaggerated to them how good they are, simply to have a positive effect on their confidence. The end result was good play and a deserved victory but what makes me proud is that I've participated in both of Spain's EURO victories, as a player and as a coach. Above all, I'm delighted that we relearned the art of tournament play."

Important task
Much of that new-found steeliness can be traced back to Aragonés's decision to employ a sports psychologist. In the past Spain may have crumpled in the quarter-final penalty shoot-out against Italy, else in the Vienna final, but their players rose to the challenge. "I have a nephew who works with a great psychology professor in the United States who we'd already worked with at the last World Cup," said Aragonés. "It's very important, on a psychological level, to look after your players in a tournament and I'd say that I sometimes view this as the most important job a coach has. I want more than discipline: I want people to involve themselves in the project, to commit and you have to work hard to engender that spirit."

Youthful vigour
Such open-mindedness about sports psychology is not common among players or coaches of 30 or 40, let alone one approaching his 70th birthday, yet Aragonés insists he is young at heart. "I'm old, in human terms, but I feel very youthful and full of vitality in football terms," said the Wise Man of Hortaleza. "I feel good physically and mentally but above all I know that I'm learning new things every day – I'm fresh in my attitude and open minded. I'm doing a job which is not only my passion but to which I've dedicated my life. It makes me feel young. Only when I can't embrace both the traditional and the modern challenges of top-level football will I retire."

Fabulous legacy
Now immersed in his new challenge at Fenerbahçe, Aragonés has left a great legacy to successor Vicente del Bosque. A major trophy, a top-class squad unbeaten since late 2006, that winning mentality and fresh memories of a million people turning out in Madrid in July to welcome the squad home with a huge fanfare. Aragonés was there, if shunning all the limelight that was cast on to him – he will reserve his own celebrations until retirement. And that may not be for some time yet.

Luis Aragonés spoke to uefa.com at the 8th UEFA Conference for European National Coaches in Vienna in September.