Spain midfielder Xabi Alonso has talked down his team s chances of defending their title at Euro 2012.
Vicente del Bosque s men, the reigning world and European champions, will enter the tournament in Poland and Ukraine as hot favourites.
But Alonso said it would be difficult for his side, and played down their favouritism.
I think it s going to be more difficult. I think that the European Championship is going to be very hard and I don t see things as clearly as the betting where we are strong favourites, the Real Madrid playmaker said.
We need to be as cautious and humble as possible as we ll be watched closely. It s going to be hard for us. I don t see us as favourites at all.
Spain, drawn in Group C, will take on Italy on June 10 before clashes against the Republic of Ireland and Croatia.
Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas said Spain needed to adapt to being one of the teams everyone wanted to beat.
Spain s chances revolve around repeating our success of (Euro) 2008. The difference now from four years ago is that we were a surprise package back then, nobody was ready for the way we played, he said.
I don t think teams dealt that well with our movement and style.
Now, world football knows the Spanish team, so any of Spain s rivals will make things difficult for us.
Spain full-back Sergio Ramos said their favouritism was predictable, but urged his team-mates to continue working hard.
The key is to keep our football philosophy of the past few years that has given us success, the defender said.
The label of favourite is inevitable being world and European Champions, so people and the press are always going to pick Spain.
But if something has made us champions, it s humility and hard work.
