Goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani gave Portugal a 2-0 victory over Wales in Lyon, which saw Fernando Santos’ side progress to the European Championship final at Wales’ expense.
But Ramsey, absent from the match through suspension, insists Wales have done themselves proud in France, something he believes he is no small part down to the atmosphere created by Coleman.
“It‘s brilliant [playing under Coleman], you can see that it’s evident on the pitch as well, the amount of fun that we have,” Ramsey told Sport360 after the game.
“We enjoy everything we do together, we enjoy working hard on the pitch and we enjoy playing – and we get to play with that freedom as well. I think all the players enjoy playing under him.
“He just said [in the dressing-room after the game] that we could be proud of what we’ve achieved in this tournament. Obviously we’re disappointed with the result and the way we went out but what we’ve shown throughout this campaign we can be proud of and I think the fans and the Welsh public are proud of what we’ve done as well.”
— Aaron Ramsey (@aaronramsey) July 6, 2016
Ramsey admitted it was hard to watch the match from the sidelines following his yellow card in an otherwise superb display in the quarter-final against Belgium.
“I’d have preferred to have been playing and it was quite hard but I thought the boys gave it their all but it wasn’t to be,” Ramsey said. “I fully believed in the team we had out tonight. We have quality all over the park. I can’t criticise anyone, I thought everyone gave 100 percent tonight.
“We’ve done extremely well, we’d have liked to have gone another step further and got to the final but we can be proud of what we’ve achieved and we can build on that now for the future. If we’d said before the tournament that Wales would get to the semi-finals, I think a lot of people would have laughed at that.
“Hopefully it’s the start of us qualifying for major tournaments regularly and make a lot more teams notice and know what we’re all about. The way we play, the passion we play with and hopefully now we’ve started something that we can build on.”
Ramsey will now have a short break before joining up with the Arsenal squad for the new season, though he admitted he may yet be given some extra time off by Arsene Wenger.
“I think I’m back on August 1 so I’ll have a few weeks off now but then the season kicks off,” Ramsey said. “I think when Germany won the World Cup a couple of years ago those boys came in a couple of days before the start of the season and missed the first game.
“He [Arsene] does like to give players a little break and I’m sure I’ll get the same treatment. I feel that I need a few weeks off now, yes.”
