Spain midfielder Thiago Alcantara on Friday acknowledged that although they qualified for the knockout stage of the ongoing FIFA World Cup, the team has somewhat underperformed.

Spain, the 2010 World Cup champions, earned only one 1-0 win in their group play, over Iran, and otherwise were held to a draw by Portugal in their first Group B clash and Morocco in the final match of the World Cup group phase, reports Efe.

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“We finished top of the group but not by playing the best football, or the football you expect from us,” said the Italian-born Spain international. “We have to be self-critical,” he added at a press conference.

“For us the most important thing is to prepare well for the match against Russia. We won’t be playing against 11 Russians, but rather thousands of them, in front of a packed stadium,” he continued.

Spain are set to take on Russia on Sunday evening at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium.