Spain duo Rodri and Sergio Busquets have opened up on their frustration at being knocked out of the 2022 World Cup by Morocco on Tuesday.

Neither team could find the back of the net in normal or extra-time, with the last-16 contest instead heading for a penalty shootout.

Pablo Sarabia, Carlos Soler and Busquets all missed from the spot, with Morocco scoring three times to book their spot in the quarter-finals courtesy of the penalty success.

Rodri and Busquets were both key players for La Roja at the competition, and the duo have now detailed their frustration at the exit in the first knockout round.

"Football has these things. You have to compete and we have fallen on penalties. We have tried but it has been complicated. Penalties are like that. We have not been successful, we have not scored any of the penalties. It's one of the worst days," Rodri told Mundo Deportivo.

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"We expected eleven guys at the back, as in almost every game. It's complicated, sometimes frustrating. I wish someone up there would have helped us a little bit.

"Football is cruel sometimes, we deserved it [to win]. Maybe it wasn't enough, I have no idea. I think we deserved to go through. Football does not understand justice. It only matters when the ball goes in, and when it doesn't."

Rodri played the full 120 minutes against Morocco, with the Manchester City midfielder operating as a central defender for his national side at the tournament.

However, unlike Busquets, the 26-year-old did not step up to take a penalty against Morocco.

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"We wanted to continue [in the competition]," Busquets told reporters. "I think we did well, it was a tough, physical game; as time passed we found more spaces, and in extra time it was the same. We even had Sarabia's chance, which was a shame, and then it was penalties in the cruellest way.

"It was hard for us. We tried to tire them out, to find spaces. Sometimes we managed it, and we lacked a bit of luck, the final ball or the finish.

"It's always heads or tails [with penalties]. We missed the first three penalties and it's very difficult like that."

Spain have now not managed to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup since they won the competition in 2010, posting one group-stage exit and two eliminations in the round of 16 in the last three tournaments.

Written by
Matt Law