Carlos Carvalhal insisted Sheffield Wednesday fully deserved their 3-0 victory over Arsenal in the Capital One Cup.
The Championship side booked their place in the League Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 2002 thanks to goals from Ross Wallace, Lucas Joao and Sam Hutchinson.
And Carvalhal, who side sit ninth in the second tier of English football, believes victory over the Premier League side could help attract a new generation of fans to Hillsborough.
"I am very happy about the victory, I think we deserved it," he said.
"Everything belongs to the players, they were fantastic, we put a plan together and they did it 100 per cent. We deserved what we got.
"I am very happy about the players and for the club, it is an important victory for the club," he added.
"It was a full stadium, with a new generation of fans.
Arsenal lost Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott to injuries in the first 19 minutes of the game and Carvalhal admitted the loss of key players aided his side.
"If Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain stayed on Arsenal are of course stronger but at that moment we were blocking the way that Arsenal play," he said.
"I don't think we would have won 3-0 but we had chances to win. The way we are playing we could have scored the same goals and we were compact and blocked off Arsenal.
"When you play against a club that beats Bayern Munich, they have a squad full of internationals, they are near the top of English football, there is a big gap.
"There is still a big gap. We know they are nine times better than us as a minimum. On the pitch we were better than Arsenal tonight, but we are not better than them."
The Portuguese manager was asked about his side's prospects in the competition but said his focus would turn to his side's next match against Nottingham Forest in the Championship.
He said: "We will take it step-by-step. At this moment we belong to the Championship. We are not a Premier League club so we are the outsider but we will try to do our best game-by-game.
"Now we have to forget this game and prepare for an important game against Nottingham Forest at the weekend."