France were handed their first defeat of the European Championship by an already-eliminated http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sweden-c3015 side, which has left Les Bleus to face Spain in the quarterfinals
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/France-c2899 needed a convincing win against Ibrahimovic and co. to top the group and avoid reigning World and European champion Spain. However, Laurent Blanc’s men failed to achieve that feat and were thrashed 2-0 by ruthless Sweden in their last group-fixture,
ending their 23-match unbeaten streak.
Les Bleus will take on the tournament favourites http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Spain-c3011 in the knockout stages of the Euro 2012. And Laurent Blanc couldn’t hide his disappointment after the match as he wanted a different result.
Talking to reporters after the match, Blanc said that despite the defeat, his side has qualified for the quarterfinals, and that’s what matters the most. May be not in the way the Frenchman wanted, but Les Bleus have crawled through the next round nonetheless.
"We are disappointed of course, we wanted a different result, but the most important thing is we qualified for the quarter-finals. Even though Sweden played well, they are going home tomorrow.”
Laurent Blanc asked for more optimism from his players and fans. The Frenchman knows very well how tough it would be to face Spain, who are in top form at the moment and have quality players in its ranks. But Blanc admitted that the failure to avoid World
Champions in the quarterfinals is France’s own fault and his side have to deal with it now.
“We need to stay optimistic; we didn't make things easy for ourselves. It is not the easiest thing to play Spain at the moment, we have to be rested and need a really good performance to beat them.”
The Frenchman stated that although the moral of team is pretty low at the moment after the match, Les Bleus need to look at the positive side of the picture as well. France managed to beat Spain in ‘2006 World Cup’ following a heroic performance from their
star man Zinedine Zidane.
Even though Les Bleus do not have the services of Zidane anymore, Blanc feels that the result of that tournament should be a motivation for his players. However, the former Manchester United player admitted that Spain are the clear favourites but his team
will put in a good performance against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Vicente-c36001 del Bosque’s side.
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