France forward David Trezeguet remained philosophical despite missing the penalty which saw his team lose in the World Cup final against Italy.
Substitute Trezeguet, who came on in the first period of extra-time, stepped up to take Les Bleus' second spot-kick in a dramatic final penalty shoot-out, but was not denied by Juventus team-mate and Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon - but by the crossbar.
He said: "I didn't think I hit the ball badly. I think it's important that one takes responsibility for his acts and I walk with my head held high. We have to accept defeat, look ahead, this is part of football."
He added: "It's true that I know Buffon very well. But I didn't change my style of striking the ball because of that."
Zinedine Zidane's penalty had given France a seventh-minute lead before the Azzurri equalised 12 minutes later from Marco Materazzi's header.
Raymond Domenech's team did look the better side in the second half but failed to hit the target again despite extra-time.
"We did dominate," said Trezeguet. "I don't think we were inferior to Italy.
"Unfortunately, we weren't able to score and the game was decided on penalties. We knew then that it could go either way."
France had already suffered an earlier blow with captain Zidane ending his career with a sending-off in extra-time after headbutting defender Materazzi in the chest. And Trezeguet came out in defence of the captain, who was France's 1998 World Cup hero.
"Considering all that Zidane has done for the national team we can only say thank you and bravo," he said. "He is an exceptional player and an exceptional human being and he will recover." | 
