• Spain coach looking forward to quarter-final against France
• Del Bosque defends performance against Croatia
The Spain coach, Vicente del Bosque, is looking forward to facing France in the quarter-finals of Euro 2012 on Saturday but has warned his side against complacency.
The teams last met in a friendly before the 2010 World Cup, when goals from Sergio Ramos and David Villa handed Spain a 2-0 win at the Stade de France, but Del Bosque is aware of how much the French side has changed in the intervening two years.
"We know the equality there is in the competition. Any team is difficult but France are playing well and have a good team," he told Spanish radio. "They have made changes that have got results … What I don't want is this Spanish custom that we don't have to be careful of the opponent. It is a huge match, a match that appeals to everyone."
Del Bosque defended his side's performance in the 1-0 win over Croatia on Monday night. Jesús Navas's goal three minutes from time was enough to guarantee the European champions first place in Group C, but they failed to find their normal rhythm for large spells and were thankful to Iker Casillas for a fine save from Ivan Rakitic when the score was still 0-0.
"We had 70% of possession, we shot on goal 16 or 17 times and they had only seven or eight attempts," Del Bosque said. "We dominated more than Croatia and we didn't play badly. We weren't as bad as it appeared to me at the time.
"It was an awkward game for us. We had a lot of compliments rained down on us the week before and there was a stream of comments that we were superior to the rest. The conservatism that sometimes doesn't lead to great football could have cost us and possibly we didn't have a lot of penetration but in defence we were pretty good." Read More
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