Kiev (Ukraine), June 20 (IANS/RIA Novosti) France must cast away their disappointment with Tuesday's 0-2 Euro 2012 defeat to Sweden and stay "optimistic" for their quarterfinal against Spain, coach Laurent Blanc said.
A wonder strike by Zlatan Ibrahimovic and a Sebastian Larsson goal on the break in injury time condemned the French to second place in Group D here Tuesday.
The unexpected loss rounded off France's group campaign sourly, after beginning with a 1-1 draw with England and a 2-1 win over co-hosts Ukraine.
"You've always got to be optimistic. We need to stay optimistic," Blanc said. "We haven't made life easy for ourselves because Spain aren't the easiest opponents," he added ahead of Saturday's showdown in Donetsk.
"We are going to play one of the best teams in the championships, one of the best teams in the world. Our task was to win the group, we were unable to do that," Blanc said.
"We need to live with that."
The loss ended a run of 23 matches without defeat that stretched back to September 2010.
"We were on an unbeaten run, that's over. We always said it would come to an end."
Blanc, 46, inherited Raymond Domenech's demoralised team after France's disastrous campaign at the World Cup in South Africa.
--IANS/RIA Novosti
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