Spain defender Carles Puyol believes his team were unfortunate to be knocked out of the World Cup.

A 3-1 defeat to France cost Luis Aragones' men the chance of progressing to the last eight, adding weight to their tag as perennial under-achievers.

And Puyol felt the expectations of a young Spanish side had perhaps been too high.

"We didn't think we were favourites," said the Barcelona defender.

"We knew that we were facing a strong French team which have very good players with a lot of experience in this type of tournament.

"It hurts though, considering how we went out - had France been superior to us I would have accepted it."

Puyol acknowledged Spain did not have luck on their side in Germany.

Despite finishing top of their group after three consecutive wins in the first round, they could not avoid a meeting with the 1998 world champions in the last 16.

"We lacked fortune," Puyol continued.

"We knew that we had the quality to go through but we also knew there was that possibility it could go the other way."

Puyol was adamant Italian referee Roberto Rossetti should not have given the foul that lead to France's second goal as he believed he had clearly won the ball ahead of Thierry Henry.

"That wasn't a foul," he said. "I never like to talk about refereeing decisions but on this occasion he didn't make the right choice.

"I was very surprised because I thought the foul would go against Henry.

"Then we were unlucky to concede the second goal because the ball hit Sergio Ramos before finding the net and that killed us."

Unlike Puyol, Liverpool's Luis Garcia believed France performed effectively to limit the Spanish threat.

"France knew what to do," the striker said.

"Their players may not have shone in this tournament so far but they were patient throughout the game and hit us.

"We were working very well as a group, the team had a lot of confidence going into the game and it's painful to leave Germany at this stage."

Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas preferred to look at the positives.

"I hope we can all learn from what has happened," said Casillas.

"We have to look ahead with optimism.

"The generation change has already taken place in this national team and we certainly have the quality and the players.

"Perhaps we lacked experience but we will have this in four years' time."