Full text of Howard Webb's statement regarding his refereeing of Sunday's World Cup final.

"It was a marvellous honour to have been selected for the tournament and we had a wonderful six weeks in South Africa. The people made us feel really welcome and we've hugely enjoyed the experience of being involved in such an incredible and unique event. We left the 2010 World Cup with amazing memories.

"We have been overwhelmed by the support of the public, the media, friends, colleagues, players and managers before and after the final. It was a massive honour and a privilege to take charge of the World Cup final. It is something every referee dreams of and to fulfil that dream was a remarkable feeling.

"Whatever the match, you always hope that the officials won't need to be heavily involved. However, we had to raise our profile in order to keep control.

"We don't feel that we had much choice except to manage the game in the way we did. We came away feeling satisfied that we'd done a tough job in difficult circumstances to the best of our abilities.

"From early on in the match we had to make decisions that were clear yellow cards. We tried to apply some common sense officiating given the magnitude of the occasion for both sides - advising players early on for some of their tackling, sending players away when they were surrounding the officials, and speaking to their senior colleagues to try to calm them down.

"It was an extremely challenging match to handle, but it would have been so for any referee. It is one of the toughest games we will ever be involved in and we feel that we worked hard to keep the focus on the football as much as possible.

"Mike and Darren made some terrific calls and I thought the decisions made by my team throughout the tournament were excellent. It's because of the quality of the team work that we were appointed to the final. We leave the tournament pleased with how we performed, honoured to be given the final and privileged to have met so many wonderful people in South Africa.

"We're all looking forward to a little bit of a rest and then coming back fresh for the new Barclays Premier League season."