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After another early exit from the World Cup - a defeat in the quarterfinals 1-3 to the French national team - the Spaniards expressed dissatisfaction with the work of referee Roberto Rosetti.
Coach Luis Aragones criticized the penalty awarded by the referee, after which Patrick Vieira scored with his head what was deemed a possible goal, changing the score to 1-2 in favor of France.
"Their second goal came after a penalty kick, which was given for an imaginary foul. We suffered due to the referee's mistake," said L. Aragones. "Football is sometimes unfair, but not always. France was a very strong opponent."
"When players give their all, you can't ask for more from them," added the coach. "They are still young and will have another chance in the future."
Spain's defender Carles Puyol agreed with the coach: "It wasn't a foul. If anything, it was his (Thierry Henry's) foul, as he came from behind and collided with me."
"But referees sometimes make mistakes," added the defender. "It's a shame that after the penalty kick the ball hit one of ours (Xabi Alonso), then after Vieira's strike the ball bounced off another of ours (Sergio Ramos), hit the crossbar, and went into the goal."
"It hurts to lose like this," said the captain of Barcelona. "I think we deserved more and played a good game. But that's football. Now it's important to recover and start thinking about the next championship."
Despite the loss, Spain's midfielder Cesc Fabregas was satisfied with the team's performance: "We played the way we wanted to play. And we played well, but they managed to do better."
