Jose Mourinho led Inter Milan to the final of the Champions League following a 3-2 aggregate win over Barcelona.
Inter held a 3-1 lead from the first leg but were forced to dig deep after Thiago Motta was sent off two minutes short of the half-hour mark.
The Italians defended heroically throughout and held on to advance to next month's final in Madrid, despite Gerard Pique's late goal.
And Mourinho says this victory will be talked about for decades in Italy.
"It was epic and perfect - in 40 years they will talk about this team's heroics in Barcelona," he said after the match.
"My team is in paradise with this victory," he added.
Mourinho was delighted to beat a Barcelona side that had won everything in sight last year and that he considers to be the very best.
"We beat the best team around and I am happy, but we have three finals left," he said, in reference to his side's pursuit of a league, cup and Champions League treble.
"I hope the fans enjoy the win and go to meet the players at the airport - if I could I would give my players a week off because they deserve it, but we have a game at the weekend," he said.
And Mourinho, who admitted he is a bad loser, believes his side deserved a draw on the night.
"To lose the game 1-0 is the biggest defeat of my life - we deserved a 0-0," he said.
Mourinho was forced to change striker Goran Pandev for defender Cristian Chivu after the former picked up an injury in the warm-up, and the Portuguese coach says that switch limited Inter's attacking aspirations.
"The game started badly because Pandev couldn't play. I had to change and play Chivu, who played an exceptional game, but he is very defensive and we lost a lot of our attacking options with that change," he said.
But Inter prevailed to reach a European Cup final for the first time since 1972.
The Italians face Louis van Gaal's Bayern Munich in Madrid on May 22 and Mourinho is relishing the meeting with his former mentor at Barcelona.
"Louis is a winner and I'm a winner - we will both want to win and we are both going for three trophies, so we are in a similar position and neither of us will be saving ourselves for the final, which I think is a good thing," he said.
Meanwhile, Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola was philosophical in defeat.
"Congratulations to Inter, they have beaten us over two games and good luck to them - any team can choose how they play and I have no complaints," he said.
"We tried through the middle and down the wings, but we couldn't find a way through - it was difficult because there was no space between their defence and their midfield and they defended very well," he added.
Having won six trophies in 2009, Barca's sole chance of a trophy is now in the domestic league this season, and Guardiola says his players will be in the right frame of mind for this weekend's tough game at Villarreal.
"We'll pick ourselves up, the players are professional and they will want to win the league," he said.
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