Spain coach Vicente del Bosque defended his players after a 2-1 defeat by Croatia means they must face old rivals Italy in the round of 16.
He pointed out, however, that they had been warned about the sort of break with which Ivan Perisic scored the winning goal.
"We had spoken about Perisic and how dangerous he was in counter-attacks," Del Bosque told Spanish television network Telecino when asked about the Inter Milan striker.
"We are disappointed. The path now might be seen as more difficult but you never know where the danger is."
Although it was a first defeat in 15 matches at the finals for Spain since they lost to Portugal in 2004, they did recover from an opening defeat by Switzerland to win the 2010 World Cup.
"We've won the right still to be in the competition," said Del Bosque.
"I'm not going to defend the performance excessively but we haven't played badly and I don't really have any complaints about the players."
Asked about the choice of penalty taker for the spot kick captain Sergio Ramos missed, Del Bosque said there was a group of players and "the one who has the most confidence takes it".
Ramos acknowledged that his poor kick, saved by goalkeeper Danijel Subasic, had given Spain a harder path to follow if they are to win a record third straight European title.
"I had a chance to put my team ahead and unfortunately I couldn't convert," he said.
Source: AAP
