French boss Laurent Blanc has played down his side's prospects ahead of their Euro 2012 quarter-final clash with Spain.

Les Bleus were defeated 2-0 by Sweden on Tuesday to leave them in second spot in Group D, and facing a subsequent clash with the European and World Champions.

"The aim tonight was to win and finish first in the group, but we were not able to do that and we must just deal with it. The problem with Spain is that they don't give you the ball. We need to get at them on the counterattack and cause problems for them that way," he told reporters.

"Croatia showed us the way to do it. They didn't have the ball much, but when they did, they used it well and, in my opinion, that is what we need to do.

"But we must be realistic. In Spain we will be meeting one of the best teams in the Euros, and also, in my opinion, the world. [However] if we had been told when we took the team in 2010 that he would reach the quarter-finals of Euro 2012, we would have signed up for that immediately."

The defeat was France's first in 24 games.